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I. ECTURES 



REVIVALS OF RELIGION; 



WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D.D. 

PASTOR OF THE SECOND. PEESEYTEEIAN CHURCH IN ALBANY. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 



LEONARD WOODS, D.D. 



ALSO, 



AN APPENDIX, 



CONSISTING OF LETTERS FROM THE REV. DOCTORS ALEXANDER, WAYLAND, 

DANA, MILLER, HYDE, HAWES, m'DOWELL, PORTER, PAYSON, PROUDFIT, 

M'ILVAINE, NEILL, MILLEDOLER, lord, HUMPHREY, DAY, 

GREEN, WADDEL, GRIFFIN, DAVIS, DE WITT, ^ 

TUCKER, AND COFFIN. 



SECOND EDITION, WITH ADDITIONAL LETTERS. 



,^-v_ J. t>i 



NEW YORK: 

DANIEL APPLETON & CO., 200 BROADWAY. 



M DCCC XXXIII. 



st=r; 






Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by 

D. APPLETON & Co., 

in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the 



Southern District of JVew York. 



y^/^j- 



SLEIGHT & VAN NORDEN, PRINT. 



CONTE NTS 



Page. 
Introductory Essay, by the Rev. Leonard Woods, D. D ix 

LECTURE I. 

NATURE OF A REVIVAL. 
Isaiah xlv. 8.-— Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the 
skies pour down righteousness : let the earth open, and let 
them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up 
together, 1 

LECTURE II. 

DEFENCE OF REVIVALS. 

Acts ii. 13.-~0thers mocking, said, these men are full of new 
wine, 19 

LECTURE III. 

OBSTACLES TO REVIVALS. 

1 Corinthians ix. 12. — Lest we should hinder the gospel of 
Christ, 48 

LECTURE IV. 

DIVINE AGENCY IN REVIVALS. 
Habakkuk III. 2. — O Lord, revive thy work, 70 

LECTURE V. 

GENERAL MEANS OF PRODUCING AND PROMOTING REVIVALS. 
Philippians I. 27. — Striving together for the faith of the 

gospel, 91 

LECTURE VI. 

TREATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. 

Acts ui. 19. — Repent ye therefore, and be converted, 121 



IV CONTENTS. 

LECTURE VII. Page. 

TREATMENT DUE TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 
2 Corinthians xiii. 5.*— Prove your own selves, 146 

LECTURE VIII. 

EVILS TO BE AVOIDED IN CONNECTION WITH REVIVALS. 

Romans xiv. 16. — Let not then your good be evil spoken of,, .... 169 
LECTURE IX. 

RESULTS OF REVIVALS. 
Revelation v. 13. — Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, 
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, 
forever and ever, 205 



APPENDIX 



LETTER I . Page, 
From the Reverend Archibald Alexander, D. D 229 

LETTER II. 
From the Reverend Francis Wayland, D. D 236 

LETTER III. 
From the Reverend Daniel Dana, D. D 242 

LETTER IV. 
From the Reverend Samuel Miller, D. D 248 

LETTER V. 
From the Reverend Alvan Hyde, D. D 269 

LETTER VI. 
From the Reverend JoelHawes, D. D 279 

LETTER VII. 
From the Reverend John M'Dowell, D. D 283 

LETTER VIII. 
From the Reverend Noah Porter, D. D 289 

LETTER IX. 
From the late Reverend Edward Payson, D. D 298 

LETTE R X. 
From the Reverend Alexander Proudfit, D. D 300 

LETTER XI. 
From the Rt. Reverend Charles P. M'llvaine, D. D.* 306 

* Now Bishop of Ohio. 



vi APPENDIX. 

LETTER XII. Page, 
From the Reverend William Neill, D. D 317 

LETTER XIII. 

From the Reverend Philip Milledoler, D. D 320 

LETTER XIV. 

From the Reverend Nathan Lord, D. D 324 

LETTER XV. 
From the Reverend Heman Humphrey, D. D 327 

LETTER XVI. 
From the Reverend Jeremiah Day, D. D 333 

LETTER XVII. 

From the Reverend Ashbel Green, D. D 336 

LETTER XVIII. 
From the Reverend Moses Waddel, D. D. 355 

LETTER XIX. 
From the Reverend Edward D. Griffin, D. D. . . . ,. ^359 

LETTER XX. 
From the Reverend Henry Davis, D. D 373 

LETTER XXI. 
From the Reverend Thomas De Witt, D. D 382 

LETTER XXII. 

From the Reverend Mark Tucker, D. D 385 

LETTER XXIII. 
From the Reverend Charles Coffin, D. D 391 



PREFACE. 



The following Lectures were delivered during the pre- 
ceding autumn and winter, to the congregation with 
which the author is connected, in the ordinary course of 
his public ministrations. The grand object at which he 
has aimed has been to vindicate and advance the cause of 
genuine revivals of religion ; and in doing this he has en- 
deavored to distinguish between a genuine revival and a 
spurious excitement ; to defend revivals against the cavils 
of their opposers ; to show the causes which operate to 
prevent or retard them ; to exhibit the agency of God, 
and the instrumentality of men, by which they are pro- 
duced and sustained ; to guide the inquiring sinner and 
establish the young convert ; to guard against the abuses 
to which revivals are Hable, and to anticipate the glorious 
results to which they must lead. In the hope that the 
Lectures may prove a seasonable offering to the American 
church, at an interesting and critical period, the author 
has concluded to send them forth through the press ; and 
in doing this it is a pleasure to him that he is complying 



viii PREFACE. 

with a request from the session and trustees of the church 
of which he is pastor, as well as acting in accordance 
with the wishes of several respected and beloved brethren 
in the ministry with whom he is more immediately asso- 
ciated. 

In the Appendix the reader will find a series of Letters 
on the same subjectj from a number of the most distin- 
guished clergymen of our country, and from six different 
religious denominations. The object in requesting these 
letters has been twofold, — First, to obtain authentic history 
of our revivals, in which unhappily we have hitherto been 
greatly deficient ; and, Second, to ascertain the man- 
ner in which revivals have been conducted by men whose 
wisdom, experience, and standing in the church must at 
least entitle their opinion to great consideration. It was 
originally the author's intention to have republished the 
well known letters of Doctor Beecher and Mr. Nettleton, 
written several years ago, in which the same general 
views which this volume inculcates, are defended with 
great zeal and ability. But upon examination he finds 
they are so much identified with the occasion in which 
they "originated, that he thinks it best to omit them. He 
allows himself to hope that whatever the decision of the 
public may be in respect to the Lectures, they will find in 
the Letters which follow, much authentic and important 
information ; and he doubts not that the testimony on this 
momentous subject of such a representation from our Ame- 
rican church, will not only be gratefully received, but con- 
siderately and earnestly pondered. If the volume should, 



PREFACE. ix 

by the blessing of God, be instrumental, even in a humble 
degree, of promoting such revivals as those for which 
Edwards, and Dwight, and Nettleton, and a host of others 
both among the living and the dead, have counted it an 
honor to labor, the best wish of the author of the Lectures, 
and no doubt of the writers of the Letters also, will be 
answered. 

Albany, May 1, 1832. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 

BY THE 

REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D. 

^ROF OF CHRIST. THEOLOGY IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, ANDOVER, MASS 



If a man wishes to ascertain whether he has a title to 
an estate, which has been left by a rich relative, he searches 
the laws of the land respecting inheritance. He examines 
the interpretations which have been given of those laws in 
the writings of the ablest jurists, and in the decisions of 
courts of justice. He diligently inquires into all the cir- 
cumstances of the case, and into all the conditions with 
which it is necessary for him to comply in order to secure 
the possession of the estate. In this business he proceeds 
with great zeal, and without any delay. The interest 
which he has in the subject urges him on to complete his 
examination seasonably, so that, if his title is clear, he may 
have the pleasure of anticipating the property, and in due 
time of taking possession of it ; and that he may guard 
against all mistake, and against the neglect of any measure 
which he ought to adopt. But what is the largest estate 
on earth compared with the heavenly inheritance ? And 
what is the care and diligence which we ought to exercise 
in order to secure any earthly good, compared with that 
which we ought to exercise to make sure our title to the 
blessedness of heaven ? 

2 



% INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

But how are we to determine whether ive have a title to 
that blessedness ? 

Clearly we must do this by ascertaining, what is the 
character of those who are entitled to it, and whether that 
character belongs to us. This is the business of self-exa- 
mination ; a business of vast moment to all Christians, 
though often neglected, and, when not entirely neglected, 
often performed without due regard to the proper test of 
character. No language is adequate to describe the evils 
which result, either from the omission of self inquiry, or 
from an attempt to perform the duty, while the proper rule 
of judgment is overlooked. 

This general subject has often been well explained and 
forcibly inculcated by Christian preachers, and Christian 
writers ; and it is more than once suggested in the following 
excellent Lectures. Indeed, the author has probably said 
as much on the subject, as he could consistently with the 
end he had in view, and with the variety of interesting 
topics which he found it necessary to discuss. — As he has 
requested me to make a few remarks introductory to the 
Lectures, and as I have no reason to believe that they can 
be raised in the public esteem by any recommendation from 
me ; I shall direct my remarks to a point of great practical 
importance, and shall endeavor to show as clearly as pos- 
sible, that in the whole business of examining ourselves^ and 
judging of religious character^ ive should make the word of 
God our rule. The rule is equally proper in judging of 
ourselves, and of others. 

A little consideration will make it manifest, that the 
word of God is the only safe rule. Neither the opinions 
of the world, nor the character of Christians, nor the par- 
ticular experience of those around us, nor any views which 
we might be led to entertain of the nature ,of religion by 
our own reasoning, or by our own feelings, can be a safe 



INTRODTTCTOBY ESSAY. xi 

Standard. The prevailing opinions of the world, so far 
from being certainly right, are very likely to be wrong ; 
because the world lieth in darkness. Even Christians are 
all very imperfect ; and their faults may be more visible 
than their excellencies ; so that measuring ourselves by 
them would evidently expose us to mistakes. As to the 
religious experience of those around us, — it may be true 
and saving, or it may be false and delusive. At best it will 
doubtless be a mixed experience. And unless we have 
some higher rule of judgment, how shall we be able to 
separate the true from the false, the wheat from the chaff? 
If we judge of ourselves by what we know of the experi- 
ence of others, we shall be in danger of setting a high value 
upon that which is worthless, and a low value upon that 
which constitutes the very essence of religion. Who is 
able to form a safe and perfect standard of judgment in 
regard to religious character, but that Being whose know- 
ledge is infinite, and who is therefore liable to no mistake ? 
Who but God perfectly knows the nature of the kingdom 
of heaven, and the necessary qualifications of those who 
shall be admitted into it ? If any man should undertake 
b}^ his own wisdom, without divine teaching, to make out 
a description of the qualifications which the heirs of heaven 
must have, he would undoubtedly fall into various errors, 
and his errors would misguide all those who looked to him 
as a standard. A rule of judgment, on which we can 
safely rely, must be formed by God himself, or by those 
who enjoy his infallible guidance. If we faithfully attend 
to a rule, formed in this way, we may expect that the 
conclusions which we adopt, will be according to truth, and 
will stand for ever. 

Another reason, and one of great moment, for making 
the word of God our rule of judgment, is, that this will be 
the rule of judgment at the last day. Christ himself has 



xii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 

expressly informed us, that the word which he spake shall 
judge us at the last day, In matters of a civil nature, we 
search for those laws and precedents which are to be the 
rule of judgment. In special cases we search again and 
again, and ask the counsel of those who possess superior 
skill ; so that we may determine as exactly as possible, 
what will be the decision of the court of justice, and may 
govern ourselves accordingly. Such a mode of proceeding 
is important in the highest degree, with respect to our 
spiritual concerns. Our state for eternity is to be decided 
at the judgment day. God has graciously informed us, 
that his word, contained in the scriptures, will be the rule 
of final decision. To determine then how our character 
will appear at the last day, it is only necessary that we 
should try ourselves faithfully by the word of God. If we 
try ourselves by any rule less elevated and less strict than 
this, it may lead us to cherish a false hope of future happi- 
ness ; and that hope, though it may afford us pleasure 
now, will perish for ever, when God takes away the soul. 
And who would wish for a hope built on delusion ? The 
painfulness of the final disappointment must be far more 
than an overbalance for all the pleasure which can now be 
derived from such a delusion. And besides this, the indul- 
gence of a delusive hope is, of all things, the most likely to 
prevent us from obtaining that hope which is sure and 
steadfast. 

This is a subject of most serious interest to all the heirs 
of immortality. When in our seasons of reflection that 
weighty question arises in our minds, whether we have a 
title to the kingdom of heaven ; it is indescribably important, 
that we should repair directly to the word of God, and 
judge of our character and prospects by that sure standard. 
Many of the books which have been written by pious and 
learned men on the nature and evidences of religion, exhibit 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xlii 

the truth with clearness and fidelity, and may be consulted 
with great profit. But they should never be substituted 
for the word of God. Nor should any works of human 
origin be so used, as to diminish in our view the importance 
of scripture, or in any degree to withdraw our attention 
from it. Religious books should be caleiilated to raise our 
esteem for the Bible, and to aid us in understanding its in- 
structions, and in applying them to our own case. If they 
have a different influence, they are not only useless, but 
hurtful. 

The general view which I have now taken of the pro- 
priety and importance of making the word of God our rule 
of judgment respecting character, may be sufficient. But 
as I apprehend that this is a subject on which inadequate 
and erroneous apprehensions are often entertained, I shall 
endeavor to make the rule itself as plain and obvious as 
possible. For this purpose, I shall select a few passages 
of scripture, where the nature and evidences of true religion 
are brought into view professedly, and with more than or- 
dinary prominence and fulness ; and then, instead of re- 
ferring to the Bible generally, I shall, for the present, refer 
definitely to these prominent passages, as our rule; wishing, 
however, to have it well understood, that the other texts 
which relate to the same subject, are to be treated in the 
same manner. 

I begin with the Decalogue, Exodus xx. 3 — 17. These 
ten precepts, written on tables of stone by the finger of God, 
show what are those affections and actions which God 
requires ^f us. They are contained summarily, as Christ 
teaches us, in these two commands : 

Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy hearty and 
with all thy soul^ and with all thy mind^ and with all thy 
strength ; and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 

This is a direct and intelligible account of the sum of 
2* 



xiv INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 

human duty ; — a description of that holy character, which 
we ought always to possess and to exhibit. 

The next passage I shall quote, points out our particular 
duty, as sinners. 

Mark i. 15. Jesus preached, re'pent ye^ and believe the 
Gospel. 

I next refer to a place, (Matt. v. 3 — 9,) where Christ 
undertakes, with a striking particularity, to delineate the 
peculiar traits of character which belong to his disciples. 
It is evidently his object to correct false notions of practical 
godliness, and to exhibit in one connected and delightful 
view, the qualifications of those who shall enjoy the hap- 
piness of his kingdom. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit. — Blessed are they that 
mourn. — Blessed are the meek. — Blessed are they ivho 
hunger and thirst after righteousness. — Blessed are the 
merciful. — Blessed are the pure in heart. — Blessed are the 
peacemakers. — Blessed are they that are persecuted for 
righteousness sake. 

Is. vi. 2. To this man loill I look^ even to him that is 
poor J and of a contrite spirit^ and that trembleth at my 
ivord. 

Matt. v. 44. , / say unto you^ love your enemies ; bless 
them that curse you^ do good to them that hate you^ and 
pray for them that despitefully use you^ and persecute you. 
In Matt. vi. 5 — 15, Christ gives his disciples the most 
particular directions as to the spirit and manner of their 
devotions. 

When thou prayest^ thou shall not be as the hypocrites 
are ; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues ^ and 
in the corners of the streets^ that they may be seen of men. 

But tho% ivhen thou pray est., enter into thy closet; and 

when thou hast shut thy door., pray to thy Father ivho is in 
secret ; and thy Father who seeth in secret shall reward 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XV 

thee ope7ily. But when ye pray^ use not vain repetitions^ as 
the heathen do ; for they think they shall be heard for their 

much speaking. Be not ye^ therefore^ like unto them. 

After this manner therefore pray ye : Our Father which 
art in heaven^ halloived be thy name : thy kingdom come : 
thy will be done^ in earth as it is in heaven : give us this 
day our daily bread ; and forgive us our debts as we forgive 
our debtors • and lead us not into temptation^ but deliver 
us from evil : for thine is the kingdom^ and the poiver, and 

the glory ^ for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their 

trespasses^ your heavenly Father ivill also forgive you. 
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your 
Father forgive your trespasses. 

1 Pet. ii. 7. Unto you who believe, Christ is precious. 
John xiv. 13, 21 . Ify^ love me, keep my co^nmandments. 

He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he 

it is that loveth me. 

Phil. ii. 5. Let this mind be in you, tvhich was also in 
Christ Jesus. 

Luke ix. 23, And Jesus said to them all, If any man 
ivill come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
cross daily, andfoUoiv me. 

John xvi. 8. And when the Holy Spirit is come, he loill 

convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. 

Gal. V. 22, 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 

peace, long-suffering, gentleness^ goodness, faith, meekness, 

temperance. 

As the passages here selected are very intelligible, and 
as they are among the principal ones relating to Christian 
character ; they will be sufficient for my present purpose. 
So Jfar as these leading texts are concerned, we see at once 
what is our rule of judgment, and what inquiries we are to 
make in order to determine whether we are Christians. 
Do we conform in any measure to the holy precepts which 



xvi INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

were written on tables of stone by the finger of Gocl ? Do 
we love the Lord our God with all oar heart, and our 
neighbor as ourselves ? Hsrve we repented of sin, and 
turned from it ? Do we believe in Christ, as he is set forth 
in the gospel ? Is he precious to us ? Is the same mind 
in us which was in him ? Do we deny ourselves daily ? 
Have we been convinced of sin by the Holy Spirit ? Have 
we the fruit of the Spirit, described by the Apostle ; and 
the marks of discipleship, described by our Saviour 1 Are 
we poor in spirit ? Do we mourn with the mourning of 
penitents ? Are we meek and merciful !■ Do we hunger 
and thirst after righteousness ? Are we peacemakers ? 
Are we pure in heart? Do our prayers answer to the 
pattern which Christ gave ? Do we forgive and love our 
enemies, and do them good, and pray for them ? Do we 
show our love to Christ by keeping his commandments ? 

These questions bring into view the principal evidences 
of piety, the principal rule by which we are to try ourselves. 
When the judgment day comes, we shall stand or fall as 
we are conformed or not to this rule. 

The practice of making the word of God our rule, as 
here recommended, would produce the most desirable and 
important effects. 

It would have an influence highly favorable to the cha- 
racter of Christians^ through their whole course. If they 
judge themselves by any other rule, the various evils of 
their hearts, and the faults which cleave to their characters, 
may be, and probably will be in a great measure concealed 
from their view. But the word of God sheds a clear and 
penetrating light on their whole character, even on the 
most secret springs of action, helps them to discover what 
is wrong, and how much remains to be done in the work 
of sanctification. If men stop where they are when first 
renewed, the great object of divine grace in their renewal, 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xvii 

either as to their character, their usefulness, or their enjoy- 
ment, cannot be attained. Now if they constantly look 
into the Bible as their directory, and there learn what they 
are, and what they ought to be ; and if they labor to con- 
form in all respects to that perfect standard, they will 
constantly grow in grace, and be constantly rising towards 
the stature of perfect men in Christ. The faults which are 
found in Christians, and which occasion so much injury to 
their cause, are undoubtedly owing in a great measure to 
their substituting something else in the place of holy writ, 
as the rule of their practical judgment. While they satisfy 
themselves with conforming to a false or defective standard, 
they will be satisfied with a false or defective piety. It is 
a fact well known, and often recognized, that those Christ- 
ians who have paid the most scrupulous attention to the 
word of God as the standard of character, have attained to 
the highest degree of moral excellence. They have been 
the most humble, and penitent; because *they have seen 
the most clearly how small the measure of their holiness, 
and how many their failings and sins. The pride of their 
hearts has been continually mortified, by looking at them- 
selves, in the Hght of God's holy word. They have had 
the strongest faith in Christ ; because they have had the 
deepest conviction of their own sinfulness, and misery, and 
helplessness, and the clearest views of his glory and fulness. 
They have been the most sincere and fervent in prayer ; 
because by making the sciiptures their rule, they have 
become the most deeply sensible of their poverty, and of the 
abundance of blessings they need ; the most sensible too 
that no one, but God, can bestow these blessings ; and 
particularly that they must trust in him alone to supply 
what is wanting in their Christian character. Thus they 
have been brought to feel a strong attachment to the throne 
of grace, and to be importunate and persevering in prayer. 



xviii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

Such Christians have been the most obedient to the divine 
commands, the most active in doing good, and the most 
patient and submissive under trials ; because the word of 
God has most efFec<;ually taught them, that such obedience, 
and activity, and submission, is a reasonable service, and is 
to be regarded as the very substance of practical religion, 
and the grand proof of regeneration. 

The diligent and faithful use of the word of Godj as the 
rule of judgment^ ivould have an influence peculiarly impor- 
tant in regard to those who have just begun to attend to the 
subject of religion. 

Take the case of a sudden conversion. One who has 
long lived in thoughtless security, and has perhaps been 
an opposer of religion, is to-day awakened from his slum- 
bers ; and in a very short time he thinks himself a Christian. 
He is surprised and delighted at the sudden change which 
has taken place in his feelings ; is full of gratitude, and 
rejoices in hope. Now adhering conscientiously to the 
word of God as our rule, how are we to proceed in regard 
to such a case ? 

I reply : so far as the person referred to, gives evidence 
of right views and feelings, though for only a few hours or 
minutes, we are to regard him in a favorable light, and to 
indulge a hope that the sovereign grace of God has visited 
his soul. And there may perhaps be as much evidence of 
this, as the shortness of the time will permit. But may 
we unhesitatingly and confidently pronounce him to be 
converted ? Suppose we do this ; and then suppose, what 
too often takes place, that in a few days, or a few months, 
he loses his religious impressions, returns to his sins, and is 
in all essential points as he was before, except perhaps that 
his proud, selfish heart shows itself in different ways. 
What do we think now ? Do we still pronounce him a 
convert? No. We begin to doubt. The favorable opinion 



i 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, xix 

we had of his character, we fear was a mistake ; and we 
regret that we expressed so unqualified an opinion in his 
favor, especially as our opinion may have led him to think 
well of himself, and helped to confirm his delusion. Let us 
then go back, and see what the mistake was. It is evident 
that our great mistake lay in our neglecting to make the 
word of God our rule. A faithful adherence to this, was 
all that was necessary. Shall we then go over the subject 
again, with a strict regard to the rule ? The person shows 
a sudden alteration in his mind, and says, he repents, and 
believes. What shall we think of such a case ? And 
how shall we treat it ? I reply : If he truly repents, and 
beheves, he is a Christian, renewed, pardoned, and entitled 
to heaven. But his smjing that he does this, can be no 
certain proof that he really does it ; because he may say 
it insincerely. Nor is it a certain proof that he truly repents 
and believes, that he really thinks he repents and believes ; 
because the heart is deceitful above all things^ even more 
deceitful than the deceitful tongue — and by such a heart 
he may be led to judge erroneously respecting himself. It 
is clear then, that if we would exercise a sober mind, and 
keep on scripture ground, we mast not undertake to judge 
any farther than evidence will warrant ; that is, we must 
avoid a hasty judgment. And a judgment which rests on 
a person's expressions or appearance for a short time, must 
in ordinary cases, be hasty ; because ordinarily, a short 
time is not sufficient to exhibit such evidence, as may 
safely be made the ground of judgment. The feelings, 
and words, and actions of a professed convert may be owing 
to other causes than the renewing of the Holy Spirit. 
We must wait then, patiently wait, to see whether he 
brings forth fruit meet for repentance. Look at the passages 
of scripture, which exhibit the prominent traits of Christian 
character, and you will see that it is utterly impossible to 



XX INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

judge in an hour, or a day, whether those traits belong to 
a particular person. How can he show that he repents 
and believes, before he has time to show the operations and 
fruits of repentance and faith ? — or that he has the law of 
God within his heart, before he shows by his actions that 
he is obedient? In order to make it manifest that he is 
humble, contrite, poor in spirit, meek, patient, forgiving, 
diligent in doing good, and fervent in prayer ; he must have 
time, opportunities, occasions, trials. From the nature of 
the case, the evidence of piety must be gradual. A small 
degree may be exhibited the first day, or hour of a man's 
religious life ; and we may have a small degree of hope, — 
a hope proportionate to the degree of evidence. But it is 
contrary to scripture, contrary to reason and sober judgment, 
and a sign of rashness, for us to make up our minds confi- 
dentljr respecting a person's conversion, or to speak confi- 
dently of it to others, when he has had opportunity to give 
but slight and dubious evidence of conversion. We must 
therefore check the spirit of impatience and haste, must 
guard against all excitements inconsistent with enlightened 
reason, and must suspend our opinion, till the person makes 
it appear by his life, whether he has the marks of a 
Christian. Nothing can be more obvious than that men 
will ordinarily be liable to mistake, if they take upon them 
to speak decisively as to the conversion of others, or to 
judge decisively of their own, on the ground of what takes 
place in a short time. A man is suddenly waked up to 
the importance of religion. Seeing himself to be a sinner, 
under condemnation, he is distressed and agitated. But 
on hearing the messages of divine mercy, and the ofifers of 
free pardon, he is filled with inexpressible rapture, resolves 
to be a Christian, cries glory to God, and exults in the hope" 
of heaven. Now many Christians at the present day look 
upon such appearances as good evidence of a saving 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxi 

change, and without any qualification , speak of the person 
who exhibits them, as converted. But is this according to 
truth ? Is it the dictate of Christian wisdom ? What real 
evidence is there, that the person described, has been 
savingly converted'? Does the evidence consist in the 
sudden waking up of the mind to the things of religion ? 
in a consciousness of guilt ? in fear, and distress, and agi- 
tation ? We learn from the scriptures, that these things 
afford no satisfactory evidence of conversion. Is evidence 
found in the rapturous joy which is excited by the offer of 
pardon, and by the hope of happiness in heaven ? The 
slightest acquaintance with the nature of man teaches j 
and the word of God teaches more fully, that such joy is 
altogether equivocal, as it has in ten thousand instances 
sprung from a selfish and deluded heart, and may spring 
from the same source in the case before us. There is 
nothing of more dubious import than the feeling and utter- 
ance of such rapturous joy. 

But is not joy among the fruits of the Spirit ? Yes ; 
true joy is so. But we learn from the Bible, that there is 
a joy which is false, growing out of a deceived heart. 
We have to determine then whether the joy excited in the 
individual before us, is true or false ; and we must do this 
by attending to the circumstances of the case, and to the 
consequences which follow. We must endeavor to ascer- 
tain whether he has any spiritual knowledge of God, any 
conviction of ill-desert and vileness, any cordial hatred of 
sin, any faith in the Saviour ; whether he is humble and 
of a contrite spirit ; whether he pants after holiness, denies 
himself, forgives and loves his enemies, is like Christ, and 
has respect to all the divine precepts. These, according 
to the Bible, are the main points. Any one of these is far 
more important, and ought to be far more insisted upon, as 

3 



Xxii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

an evidence of regeneration, than the highest transports of 

joy- 
Is the fact that the individual referred to expresses a 
hope respecting himself, anj decisive evidence of his con- 
version '? We cannot admit this, because the scriptures 
teach us that there is a false hope, as well as a true. 
Instead, therefore, of pronouncing confidently that the 
person is converted, because he has a hope, we have to 
ascertain whether the hope is a true Christian hope. And 
to do this, we must wait for the evidence of all the disposi- 
tions of the believer, as described in the places above cited. 
And this again will require time, and care, and patient 
observation, and a frequent suspension of our judgment. 
And how can any one, unless he is of an impatient, rash 
spirit, object to this mode of proceeding, considering that it 
is of no kind of importance in any respect, that we should 
form a judgment immediately, and considering especially, 
that a judgment formed on mistaken grounds, whether in 
regard to ourselves or others, will stand for nothing at the' 
last day, and will tend more than almost any other cause^ 
to injure and ruin the soul. 

I have said that time is necessary. The very nature of 
the rule shows this to be so. For how can the rule be 
applied to any one as a test of character, except as his 
character is made visible by his conduct ? If we were 
omniscient, we could look directly into the heart, see all 
the secret springs of action, and pass sentence upon the 
character at once, without any danger of mistake. But 
as we can know men only by their fruits, we must wait 
for the fruits to appear. When we see blossoms upon a 
tree, we may hope for fruit, and may hope that the fruit 
will be good, and thus prove the tree to be good. But 
before we can actually judge as to the goodness of the 
tree, we must see and examine the fruit ; and to do this, 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. xxiii 

we must take time. Without time it is impossible to de- 
termine, whether a sinner truly repents, and has a character 
which answers to the requisitions of God's holj word. 

As to the individual whose case I have introduced, I 
have one more inquiry. Is it a satisfactory evidence of his 
conversion, that he resolves to be a Christian^ and to act 
henceforth on the Lord's side % I answer : If his resolution 
springs from right motives^ and is sincere and pious, it is 
one sign of conversion ; though not one which is most 
frequently insisted upon in the word of God. But how 
shall we know that his resolution is sincere and pious ? 
How can he give evidence of this, but by acting out the 
Christian temper, and by showing that his character 
agrees in some good measure, with the infallible rule above 
presented from the word of God % Suppose what is often 
a fact, that he who says he is resolved to be a Christian, 
manifests no conviction of the evil of sin, or the desperate 
wickedness of his own heart, no humility, or self-abhor- 
rence, or contriteness of spirit, no readiness to make con- 
fession, no sense of his own weakness and insufficiency, 
and no cordial trust in the grace of Christ — Is he to be 
regarded as a Christian^ because he says he resolves to 
be one ? Or suppose his resolution to-day appears in all 
respects as we should wish ; serious, humble, pious, the 
fruit of a renewed heart ; bat after a while his excitement 
passes away, and he shows that he has the same heart as 
before— Is his resolution to be a Christian, still to be viewed 
as an evidence of conversion ? No. Such a resolution 
may be made a thousand times, and with apparent serious- 
ness too, but without any right feelings of heart, or any 
holy fruits in the life. So that the great question is not, 
whether a man in any way resolves to be a Christian, but 
how he resolves. What is the state of mind from which 
his resolution springs, and what influence has it on his life. 



xxiv INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

To determine whether his resolution is any evidence of 
piety, we must bring him and his resolution to the same 
test. Has he the traits of character which are so plainly 
delineated in the places which I have selected ? To an- 
swer this question properly is not the business of a moment. 
And if any one does answer it in a moment, he may soon 
have reason to reverse his answer. And though he should 
see no reason to reverse it, it may be reversed at the judg- 
ment day. 

Finally : Let us keep in mind, that great care and cau- 
tion are necessary, if we would form a judgment respecting 
the conversion of sinners, according to the rule of God's 
word. But this care and caution should be joined with 
great affection and tenderness, and with a disposition to 
encourage all that is right, and to hope well of those who 
begin to attend to the one thing needful. So far as they 
appear to love the truth, and to be of a penitent, humble, 
docile spirit, we should think favorably of them, and heartily 
thank God for his goodness, — still remembering that, as 
we cannot search the heart, we must know them by their 
fruits, and must wait to see what the fruits are. This 
mode of forming a judgment, w^hether respecting ourselves 
or others, is attended with obvious advantages, without 
any real disadvantages. If a man is truly converted, it 
will be no injury to him to suspend his judgment awhile 
as to his own state, and to wait till he has opportunity to 
see what his habitual feelings and actions are. It will do 
him no hurt, but probably much good, for his friends to 
wait awhile to see whether he lives like a Christian. It 
will do no hurt to a revival of religion, but will be an evi- 
dence that the revival is the work of God, to have it 
universally understood and deeply felt, that the heart is 
deceitful above all things^ and that no man can expect to 
come to a right decision respecting his own character, or 



INTROBUCTORY ESSAY, xxv 

the character of others, without some opportunity for the 
application of the rule of judgment j and the trial of charac- 
ter. This principle, well fixed in the mind, would promote 
watchfulness, self-inquiry, prayer, and a diligent endeavor 
to know and do God's will, among those who are setting 
out in a religious course. It would make them jealous 
over one another, and especially over themselves, with a 
godly jealousy. It would fix in their minds the important 
sentiment, that religion is no sudden start, no excitement 
of animal feehng, no fire quickly kindled and quickly ex- 
tinguished ; but a sanctified disposition of heart, an active, 
holy, durable principle, influencing the life. And the na- 
tural consequence of this sentiment would be, that they 
would indulge and express no more confidence that they 
have religion, than they would be warranted to do by its 
fruits, appearing in their conduct. Making the word of 
God the only standard of religion, and of religious charac- 
ter, would be the direct way to detect hypocrisy, to prevent 
delusion, to discourage false, enthusiastic afiections, and to 
preserve order and purity in the church. And it would 
have the peculiar effect to render Christians sensible of 
their insufficiency for the work to which they are called, 
and of their constant need of divine aid, and would produce 
in them a sincere reliance on the grace of God. If we set 
up a religion which varies essentially from the scripture 
rule, — a religion which consists in the stirring of the pas- 
sions, or the efforts of mere self-love, and which comes 
within the reach of the unrenewed heart ; we can indeed 
easily exercise such a religion, of ourselves: To this we 
are perfectly adequate, without any special divine help. 
For who needs special divine help to enable him to deceive 
himself, and to indulge the hope of the hypocrite ? Who 
has occasion to rely upon the grace of God, in order to the 
exercise of a proud, selfish, false religion ? But let a man 

3* 



xxvi INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

set up before him a religion which agrees with the word 
of God, particularly with the prominent passages quoted 
above ; and let him make it the great object of his desires 
and efforts to cultivate such a religion, and to exhibit all 
its lovely fruits ; and he will quickly learn that his strength 
is weakness. He will find that the practice of true religion 
is totally against the natural dispositions of his heart ; that 
jt requires constant self-denial ; a constant struggle against 
the law in his members ; a constant endeavor to subdue 
and mortify his corrupt heart ; that it must involve him in 
an endless warfare against hostile powers without and 
within. The labor he undertakes is arduous. The travel 
is all the way up hill, and frequently up very steep ascents. 
Every one who truly enlists in this work, will quickly find, 
and will find more and more clearly as he proceeds, that 
he is exceedingly weak and insufficient, and that his help 
must come from the Lord who made heaven and earth. 

Believing, as all Christians do, that the Scripture is the 
only safe and infallible rule, we ought so to regard it in our 
own practice. When we go to our places of retirement to 
commune with our own hearts, and to examine ourselves ; 
we have to do with nothing as a rule of judgment, but the 
word of God. Away, then, ye false imaginations, dreams, 
passionate excitements, mental convulsions. '' To the law 
and to the testimony." This is our standard. And the 
right application of this to our own case requires the tran- 
quillity and stillness which we enjoy in retirement. Here 
the all-important question arises ; are loe Christians ? We 
cannot safely trust to the opinion of our friends. They 
look only on the outward appearance. We go directly to 
our Statute Book, our sure guide. We open the sacred 
volume. We '' ask for the old paths^ where is the good 
ivay ?" We turn to one and another passage of holy writ ; 
particularly to the passages which I have quoted, and 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, xxvii 

Others of like kind ; for it is best to have particular places 
before our eyes, at one time this, and at another time that. 
Then looking to God for the guidance of his Spirit, we 
inquire whether the traits of character thus presented to 
view, are ours. If we can stand the trial of God's word, 
faithfully applied, we are heirs of eternal life. If not, we 
shall be cast away as dross. The word of God, which we 
receive as our rale, is immutable. Other things change 
and pass away • but this abideth for ever. The world, 
especially at the present day, is full of inventions. The 
active, restless mind of man is ever seeking after something 
new. But there is no such thing as a new religion^ or a 
new way to heaven. All that which deserves the name 
of religion, and which will be approved at the final judg- 
ment, agrees with the same standard. In this standard 
there can be no alteration ; and of course none in the reli- 
gion which is conformed to it. All the true religion which 
will exist in our country, and in the world, the present 
year, and the present generation, whether commencing in 
revivals or not, — and all which will exist to the millenium, 
will be just such religion as is described by our Saviour in 
his sermon on the mount, and just such as Paul describes, 
when he tells us what are the fruits of the Spirit, and such 
as is described in the various passages above cited, and in 
other passages of scripture relating to the same subject. 
If we possess this religion, we are happy here and hereafter. 
If not, whatever our present appearances and hopes, we 
have no part or lot among the heirs of heaven. 

The Lectures which follow, I have read with an un- 
common degree of pleasure. I regard it as a circumstance 
highly auspicious to the cause of revivals, and to all the 
interests of religion, that the author has, through the grace 
of God, been enabled to write and preach a series of Lec- 
tures so judicious, candid, and impressive, and, what is still 



1 



xxviii INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

more important, so scriptural; and that he has consented 
to give them to the public. It is my earnest hope that 
they will be read with attention and profit by our religious 
community, far and near, and that their usefulness will 
extend to other nations. I would devoutly commend 
them, together with these prefatory remarks, to the 
blessing of God. 



1 



LEONARD WOODS. 



Theological Seminary, 
Andover, March 10, 1832. 



4 



LECTURES 



REVIVALS OF RELIGIO N 



LECTURE I 

NATURE OF A REVIVAL. 



ISAIAH xlv. 8. 

Drop down J ye heavens ^ from above, and let the skies pour 
down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring 
forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. 

The final and complete triumph of the church was a 
theme at which the mind of this prophet was always ready, 
to kindle. So infinitely superior did he regard it to any 
thing that respects merely the present world, that when his 
predictions relate immediately to temporal mercies, they 
often look farther to spiritual blessings ; and sometimes we 
find him apparently forgetting himself for a moment, and 
passing abruptly, and almost imperceptibly, from some 
national deliverance to the salvation of the gospel. In the 
verses immediately preceding our text, there is a manifest 
reference to the deliverance of the Jews from their capti- 
vity in Babylon ; but in the text itself, there is a sudden 
transition to a subject of far higher import, even the bless- 
ings of Christ's salvation ; and this latter subject continues 
to engross the prophet's mind to the close of the chapter, 
'' Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies 



LECTURE I. 



pour down righteousness : let the earth open, and let them . 
bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up 
together." 

There was some partial fulfilment of this prediction in 
the revival of true piety which attended the return of the 
Jews from Babylon ; though it is evidently to be considered 
as referring principally to the more extensive prevalence 
of religion under the gospel dispensation. It may be re- 
garded, in a general sense, as denoting the abundant grace 
by which the gospel would be attended, casting into the 
shade all previous measures of divine influence which had 
been enjoyed by the church ; or it may be considered more 
particularly— as referring to special occasions, on which 
the agency of the Spirit would be signally manifest. In 
this latter sense, it may be applied to the wonderful effu- 
sions of the Holy Ghost which attended the preaching of 
Peter on the day of Pentecost ; and to what in these latter 
days we are accustomed to denominate revivals of reli- 
gion. It is in its application to revivals that I purpose to 
.consider it at the present time. 

I here commence a series of discourses, in which it will 
be my object to present before you, in its various bearings, 
the subject of Revivals of Religion. The reasons 
which have determined me to this course, and the grounds 
on which I beg leave to commend this subject to your 
special attention, are the following : 

1. It. is a subject in which the church, especially in this 
country, is, at this moment^ more deeply and practically 
interested than almost any other. You cannot look back 
upon the history of our American church, and compare the 
past with the present, without perceiving that within the 
last half century a wonderful change has taken place in ' 
the order of God's providence towards it. It is true, in- 
deedj that through the ministry of Whitfield and others, 



I 



LECTURE 1. 3 

there was a revival of considerable extent in this country, 
a little before the middle of the last century ; but owing to 
various causes, which I shall not now stop to specify, the 
fruits of it were, in no small degree, blasted ; and from that 
period till near the beginning of the present century, the 
church was only enlarged by very gradual additions. Bui 
at the period last mentioned, a different state of things 
seemed to commence, in the more copious and sudden effu- 
sions of the Holy Spirit ; and now it has come to pass in 
these days in which we live, that far the greater number 
of those who are turned from darkness to light, so far as 
we can judge, experience this change during revivals of 
religion. It is for revivals that the church is continually 
praying ; and to them that she is looking for accessions 
both to her numbers and her strength. The praise of re- 
vivals is upon her lips, and upon the lips of her sons and 
daughters, who come crowding to her solemn feasts. 
Such being the fact, no one can doubt that this is a subject 
which she ought well to understand ; — which all should 
understand, who care for Zion's prosperity. 

2. This is a subject in which the church is not only 
deeply interested at the present time, but is likely to be 
more and more interested for a long time to come. The 
cause of revivals has hitherto been gradually and yet con- 
stantly gaining ground. The last year has been, in this 
respect, unparalleled in the annals of the church ; and there 
is much in prophecy to warrant the conviction that, as the 
millenial day draws near, these effusions of the Holy 
Spirit will be yet more frequent and powerful. Every 
thing decides that this is to be a practical subject, not with 
the present generation only, but with many generations to 
come. It is desirable, therefore, that we should form cor- 
rect views of it, not merely for our own sake, but for the 
sake of those who come after us ; for our views no doubt 



4 LECTURE L 

willj to a great extent, be propagated to future geiie- 
rations. 

3. The views which we form on this subject, and the 
course we adopt in respect to it, must determine, in a great 
measure, the actual effect of revivals upon the interests of 
the church. This is a matter in relation to which God is 
pleased to leave much to human instrumentality. It is 
possible that his people may co-operate with him in carry- 
ing forward a revival, by such means that there may be 
many sound and scriptural conversions, and that his cause 
may thereby be greatly advanced ; and it is possible that^ 
by the neg-lect of duty, or by the adoption of mistaken and 
unscriptural measures, they may grieve away the Holy 
Spirit, or confirm multitudes in fatal self-deception. It is 
not to be questioned that what commonly passes under the 
name of a revival of religion is an engine of prodigious 
power in the church. God intends it only for good : ne- 
vertheless it is capable of being perverted to evil. As so 
much, then, in respect to the influence of revivals, is de- 
pendant on the human agency that is employed in them, 
and as our conduct on this subject will take its complexion 
from our views, you perceive that it is a matter of great 
moment that our views should be correct. 

4. Every member of the church, whatever may be his 
standing in society, has a part to act in relation to this 
subject, and therefore ought to be enlightened concerning 
it. In days that have gone by, this may have been 
thought a matter almost exclusively for ministers and 
other officers of the church ; while private Christians may 
have imagined, that out of their closets they had little to 
do in relation to it, but to look on and behold the wonderful 
work of God. But happily this mistake has, to a great 
extent, been corrected ; and it seems now to be almost 
universally admitted, that this is a field in which even the 



LECTURE I, 5 

obscurest Christian may find a place to labor. In a com- 
munity in which there prevails a spirit of deep religious 
anxiety, and many are just forming the purpose to set their 
faces toward heaven, and many others are beginning to 
' hope that they have yielded themselves to God, there must 
needs be much occasion for private counsel and instruction ; 
and the persons most likely to be applied to are often those 
with whom the individuals concerned happen to be most 
intimately associated. Every one, therefore, ought to be 
competent to give at least some general directions. One 
right direction, in certain circumstances, may be the means 
of saving the soul. One wrong direction, in similar cir- 
cumstances, of ruining it forever. If all Christians, then, 
are so deeply and practically interested in this subject, 
there is good reason why it should be brought before yoi, 
as a distinct theme for contemplation and instruction. 

Having now stated some reasons for bringing this sub- 
ject before you at this time, I proceed to the main design 
of the discourse, which is to exhibit the nature of a revi- 
val of religion. And that we may do this intelligently, it 
will be necessary previously to answer the question, in a 
single word, what is the nature of religion ? 

Religion consists in a conformity of heart and life to the 
will of God. It consists in a principle of obedience im- 
planted in the soul, and in the operation of that principle 
in the conduct. Religion is substantially the same in all 
worlds ; though the religion of a sinner is modified, in some 
respects, by his peculiar character and condition. In com- 
mon with the religion of the angels, it consists in love to 
God — to his law, to his government, to his service ; but in 
distinction from that, it consists in repentance of sin ; faith 
in the merits of a crucified Savior; resignation under 
trials ; opposition to spiritual enemies. Moreover, religion 
in the angels is an inherent principle ; it begins with their 

4 



LECTURE L 



existence ; but in the human heart it is something super- 
induced bj the operation of the Spirit of God. Wherever 
there exists a cordial belief of God's truth, and submission 
of the will to his authority, and the graces of the heart 
shine forth in the virtues of the life, there is true religion ; 
whether it be in the palace or the cottage ; whether it 
appear in a single individual,, or be diffused over a whole 
community. 

Now if such be the nature of religion, you will readily 
perceive in what consists a revival of religion. It is a re- 
vival of scriptural knowledge ; of vital piety ; of practical 
obedience. The term revival of religion has sometimes 
been objected to, on the ground that a revival of any thing 
supposes its previous existence ; whereas in the renovation 
of sinners, there is a principle implanted which is entirely 
new. But though the fact implied in this objection is ad- 
mitted, the objection itself has no force ; because the term 
is intended to be applied in a general sense, to denote the 
improved religious state of a congregation, or of some other 
communit3^ And it is moreover applicable, in a strict 
sense, to the condition of Christians, who, at such a season, 
are in a greater or less degree revived; and whose in- 
creased zeal is usually rendered instrumental of the con- 
version of sinners. Wherever then you see religion rising 
up from a state of comparative depression to a tone of in- 
creased vigor and strength ; wherever you see professing ' 
Christians becoming more faithful to their obligations, and 
behold the strength of the church increased by fresh ac- 
cessions of piety from the world ; there is a state of things 
which you need not hesitate to denominate a revival of 
religion. 

Such a state of things may be advantageously repre- 
sented under several distinct particulars. 

1 . The first step usually is an increase of zeal and de- 



LECTURE 1. 7 

votedness on the part of God's people. They wake up to 
a sense of neglected obligations ; and resolve to return to 
the faithful discharge of duty. They betake themselves 
with increased earnestness to the throne of grace ; con- 
fessing their delinquencies with deep humility, and sup- 
plicating the aids of God's Spirit to enable them to execute 
their pious resolutions, and to discharge faithfully the vari- 
ous duties which devolve upon them. There too they 
importunately ask for the descent of the Holy Ghost on 
those around them ; on the church with which they are 
connected ; on their friends who are living at a distance 
from God ; on all who are out of the ark of safety. Their 
conversation becomes proportionally more spiritual and 
edifying. They endeavor to stir up one another's minds 
by putting each other in remembrance of their covenant 
vows, and impressing each other with their individual and 
mutual responsibilities. When they meet in the common 
intercourse of life, their conversation shows that the world 
is with them bul a subordinate matter ; and that their 
controlling desire is, that God may be glorified in the sal- 
vation of sinners. They find it no difficult matter to be 
faithful in pressing the obligations of religion upon those 
who are indifferent to it ; in warning them of their danger ; 
and in beseeching them with the earnestness of Christian 
affection to be reconciled to God. It is a case of no un- 
common occurrence at such a season that a professor of 
religion, under a deep sense of his wanderings, comes to 
regard his own Christian character with the utmost dis- 
trust ; and sometimes wanders many days in darkness, 
before the joj^'s of salvation are restored to his soul. There 
are indeed some professors who sleep through such a 
scene ; and probably some who join with the wicked, so 
far as they dare, in opposing it ; but many at least are 



8 LECTURE I. 

awake ; are humble ; are active ; and come up to the help 
of the Lord with renewed zeal and strength, 

2. Another prominent featuie in the state of things 
which I am describing, is the alarm and conviction of those 
who have hitherto been careless. Sometimes the change 
in this respect is very gradual ; and for a considerable time 
nothing more can be said than that there is a more listening 
ear, and a more serious aspect, than usual, under the 
preaching of the word ; and this increased attention is 
gradually matured into deep solemnity and pungent con- 
viction. In other cases, the reigning lethargy is suddenly 
broken up, as if there had come a thunderbolt from eternity ; 
and multitudes are heard simultaneously inquiring what 
they shall do to be saved. The young man, and the old 
man, and the middle aged man ; the exemplary and ortho- 
dox moralist, the haughty pharisee, the downright infidel, 
the profane scoffer, the dissipated sensualist, may some- 
times all be seen collected with the same spirit in their 
hearts — a spirit of deep anxiety ; and the same question 
upon their lips — how they shall escape the threatening- 
woes of perdition ? In some cases, the conviction which 
is felt prompts to silence, and you are left to learn it from 
downcast looks, or as the case may be, from half-stified 
sobs. In other cases, there is no effect at concealment, 
and the deep anguish of the heart comes out in expressions 
of the mos^ painful solicitude. - Those who once would, 
have disdained any thing which should indicate the least 
concern for their salvation, hesitate not to ask and to receive 
instruction even from the obscurest Christian, or to place 
themselves in circumstances which are a virtual acknow- 
ledgment to all that they feel their danger, and desire to 
escape from it. All the shame which they once felt on 
this subject they have given to the winds ; and their com- > 
manding desire now is, that they may find that peace 



LECTURE I. 9 

which passeth understanding ; that hope which is full of 
immortality. 

There are others who are partially awakened ; whose 
attention is in some measure excited, but not enough to 
prompt to any decided and vigorous effort. They look on 
and see what is passing ; and acknowledge God's agency 
in it ; and at times manifest some feeling in respect to their 
own condition, and express a wish that they may have 
more. They attend regularly not only upon the ordinary 
but upon some of the extraordinary means of grace, and 
treat the whole subject not only with great respect, but with 
decided seriousness ; but after all do not advance to the 
decisive point of repentance, or even of true conviction of 
sin. In this state they often remain for a considerable 
time ; until they return to their accustomed carelessness ; 
or by some new impulse from on high they are carried 
forward and become the subjects of a genuine conversion ; 
or else they are taken away in the midst of their half formed 
resolutions to a world where they will learn, to their eternal 
cost, that it was most dangerous to trifle with the Spirit of 
God. 

There ara still others belonging to the same general 
class of awakened sinners, who struggle against their 
convictions ; whose consciences proclaim to them that their 
all is in jeopardy, but who try to discredit the testimony. 
These persons sometimes rush with unaccustomed avidity 
into the haunts of business or the haunts of pleasure. 
They throw themselves into vain company, or engage in 
reading idle or infidel books ; and in some instances even 
venture to deny what is passing within them, and to jeer 
at what is passing around them. Wherever you hear 
scoffing, and witness violent opposition in a revival of reli- 
gion, it is scarcely possible that you should mistake, if you 
should put down those by whom it is exhibited on the list 

4* 



10 LECTURE 1. 

of awakened sinners. The true account of it is, that there 
is a war between the conscience and the passions. Con- 
science is awake and doing its office, and the heart is in 
rebellion against its dictates. 

3. It also belongs essentially to a revival of religion, 
that there are those, from time to time, who are indulging 
a hope that they are reconciled to God^ and are born of the 
Spirit. In some cases the change of feeling is exceedingly 
gradual, insomuch that the individual; though he is sensible 
of having experienced a change within a given period, is 
yet utterly unable to refer it to any particular time. 
Sometimes the soul suddenly emerges from darkness into 
light, and perceives a mighty change in its exercises, al- 
most in the twinkling of an eye. Sometimes there is a 
state of mind which is only peaceful ; sometimes it mounts 
up to joy and ecstacy. In some cases there is from the 
beginning much self-distrust ; in others much — too much 
confidence. But with a great variety of experience, there 
are many who are brought, or who believe themselves 
brought, into the kingdom of Christ. They give reason 
to hope they have taken the new song upon their lips. 
Children sing their young hosannas to the Lamb that was 
slain. The aged tell with gratitude of what God has done 
for them while on the margin of the grave. Saints on 
earth rejoice, and in proportion as the work is genuine, so 
also do saints and angels in heaven. The church receives 
a fresh and often a rich accession both to her numbers and 
her strength ; an accession which, in some cases, raises 
her from the dust, and causes her to look forth in health 
and beauty. 

Such are the more prominent features of what we com- 
monly call a revival of religion. But revivals, like every 
thing else that is good, have their counterfeits ; and not 
unfrequently there is a spurious admixture in those which, 



il 



LECTURE I. a 

on the whole, must be considered genuine. It becomes 
therefore a matter of great importance that we discriminate 
accurately between the precious and the vile ; that we do 
not mistake a gust of animal passion for the awakening or 
converting operations of God's Holy Spirit. We will in- 
'' quire briefly what are not^ and what are^ the indications 
of a genuine revival. 

1. It is no certain indication of a genuine revival, that 
there is great excitement. It is admitted indeed that great 
excitement may attend a true revival ; but it is not the 
necessary accompaniment of one, and it may exist where 
the work is wholly spurious. It may be an excitement 
produced not by the power of divine truth, but by artificial 
stimulus appUed to the imagination and the passions, for 
the very purpose of producing commotion both within and 
without. Instances have occurred in which Jehovah who 
has declared himself a God of order, has been professedly 
worshipped in scenes of utter confusion ; and impiety has 
been substituted for prayer; and the wildest reveries of 
fanaticism have been dealt out, instead of the sober and 
awful truths of God's word. Here is the highest excite- 
ment ; but it surely does not prove that the scene in which 
it exists is a genuine revival. It does not stamp confusion 
and irreverence, and impiety, with the seal of God's Spirit. 
On the other hand, there may be a true revival where all 
is calm and noiseless ; and multitudes of hearts may be 
broken in contrition and yielded up to God, which have 
never been agitated by any violent, much less convulsive 
emotions, nor even breathed forth a single sob, unless in 
the silence of the closet, and into the ear of mercy. 

2. It is no certain evidence of a genuine revival that 
great numbers profess to be converted. We are too much 
inclined, if I mistake not, to estimate the character of a 
revival by the number of professed converts ; whereas 



12 LECTURE 1 

there is scaixely a more uncertain test than this. For 
who does not know that doctrines may be preached, or 
measures adopted, or standards of religious character set 
up, which shall lead multitudes, especially of the unin- 
structed, to misapprehend the nature of conversion, and to 
imagine themselves subjects of it, while they are yet in 
their sins ? We admit that there may be genuine revivals 
of great extent ; in which multitudes may be almost 
simultaneously made the subjects of God's grace ; but we 
confidently maintain that the mere fact that many profess 
to be converted does not prove a revival; genuine. For 
suppose that every one of these individuals, or far th^ larger 
part of them, should finally fall away, this surely we 
should say, would prove the work spurious. If then, their 
having originally professed to be Christians proved it 
genuine, the same work is proved to be both genuine and 
spurious. Does the fact that an individual imagines him- 
self to be converted convey any certain evidence of his 
conversion ? But if this is not true of an individual, it 
certainly cannot be true of any number of individuals ; for 
if one may be self-deceived, so may many. It follows that 
the genuineness of a revival is to be judged of, in a great 
measure, independently of the number of its professed 
subjects. 

3. Nor yet, thirdly, is the existence of mi extensive and 
violent opposition^ any evidence that a revival is genuine. 
There are those who will have it, that God's Spirit cannot 
be poured out upon a community, but that all who are 
unrenewed, if their hearts are not at once broken in godly 
sorrow, will be excited to wrath and railing. Now I admit 
fully that the carnal mind is enmity against God ; and I 
am willing to admit moreover that, in most cases, perhaps 
in all, in which revivals of any considerable extent exist, 
there are some who act out this enmity in the way of direct 



LECTURE I. 13 

opposition ; — some who revile God's people and ministers, 
and who ridicule even the operations of his Holy Spirit. 
But in an orderly and well instructed communityj I hesitate 
not to say that we are not to look for any such general 
exhibition as this. Facts prove that there are multitudes 
who pass through a revival without becoming personally 
interested in it, who still never utter a word against it, and 
who say, and doubtless say honestly, that they feel no 
sensible hostility towards it. They have indeed a heart at 
enmity with God ; but that enmity may operate in some 
different way ; or it may be to a certain extent controlled 
and neutralized by constitutional qualities or habits of 
education ; and they may never feel a disposition to rail at 
God's word on the one hand, and may be as little inclined 
to yield themselves to his service on the other. While I 
admit therefore that the natural enmity of heart does 
sometimes assume the form of direct opposition against 
revivals, where there is nothing censurable in the manner 
in which they are conducted, I am constrained to believe 
that the opposition which is often complained of, or rather 
gloried in, is opposition to harshr expressions which are 
fitted to irritate, but not to enlighten, to convince, or in any 
way to profit. And then how natural is it that the odium 
should be transferred, or rather extended, from the severe 
language and questionable measures, to the revival with 
which they are connected ; and so it comes to pass that a 
violent prejudice really grows up in the mind against the 
whole subject of revivals, which originated in the imprudent 
and mistaken zeal of some of their fiiends. There are 
those, I know, who court opposition on these occasions, 
and who seem to think that nothing can be done to purpose, 
until the voice of railing is heard from without. Such 
persons are sure to find the opposition they seek ; and in 
encountering it, instead of suffering for righteousness' sake, 



H LECTURE r. 

thej are buffeted for their own faults. 1 repeat then, a 
genuine work of God's grace may be extensively opposed ; 
but the existence of such opposition does not evince it to 
be genuine. 

"What then are some of the indications of a genuine 
revival of religion ? 

1. The fact that any thing which claims to be a revival 
has been effected by smptural means^ is an evidence in 
favor of its genuineness. 

God has given us his word not only as a rule of faith but 
of practice ; and in the same proportion that we adhere to 
it, we have a right to expect his blessing ; in the same pro- . 
portion that we depart from it, we have reason to expect 
his frown. His own institutions he will honor; and the^ 
institutions of men, so far as they are conformed to the spirit 
of his word, he will also honor ; but whenever the latter are 
put in place of the former, or exalted above them, or as- 
sume a shape which God's word does not warrant, we 
cannot suppose that he can regard them with favor ; and 
even if, for a time, there should seem to be a blessing, there 
is reason to believe that the event will show that in that 
apparent blessing were bound up the elements of a curse. 

Now apply this to the subject of revivals. Suppose 
there were to be a powerful excitement on the subject of 
religion produced by means which are at war with the 
spirit of the gospel ;— suppose doctrines were to be preach- 
ed which the gospel does not recognize, and doctrines 
omitted which the gospel regards fundamental ; — suppose 
that for the simple, and honest, and faithful use of the 
sword of the Spirit, there should be substituted a mass of 
machinery designed to produce its effect on the animal 
passions ; — suppose the substance of religion, instead of be- 
ing made to consist in repentance, and faith, and holiness^ 
should consist of falling, and groaning, and shouting ;— w© 



LECTURE I. 15 

should say unhesitatingly that that could not be a genuine 
work of divine grace ; or if there were some pure wheat, 
there must be a vast amount of chaiF and stubble. It may 
be safe to admit even in the wildest scenes, the possibility 
of some genuine conversions ; because there may be some 
truth preached, and some believing prayer offered, which 
God may regard and honor, notwithstanding all the error 
and delusion with which it may be mingled. But in gene- 
ral it is perfectly fair to conclude that when men become 
dissatisfied with plain Bible truth, and simple Bible mea- 
sures, and undertake to substitute doctrines or devices of 
their own, any excitement which may be produced, how- 
ever extensive, however powerful, is of an exceedingly 
dubious character. If the effect partake of the same 
character with the cause, it must be of the earth, earthy. 

On the other hand, where there is an attention to religion 
excited by the plain and faithful preaching of God's truth 
in all its length and breadth, and by the use of those simple 
and honest means which God's word either directly pre- 
scribes or fairly sanctions, we cannot reasonably doubt that 
here is a genuine work of the Holy Spirit. The means 
used may be in some respects feeble ; that is, there_may 
be the entire absence of an eloquent and powerful ministry ; 
nevertheless, if God's truth is dispensed fairly, and with 
godly sincerity, and other corresponding means used in a 
corresponding manner, the effect which is produced may 
reasonably be attributed to the operation of divine grace ; 
and it is a fact which does great honor to the sovereignty 
of God, that the humblest instrumentality, when well 
directed, has often been honored by a multitude of con- 
versions, which a course of holy living has proved sound 
and genuine. 

If then we have a right to say that God honors his own 
word and his own institutions, the means employed in pro- 



16 



LECTURE L 



ducing and carrying forward a revival furnish a good cri- 
terion by which to determine its character. It may not 
always be easy accurately to apply this rule in given cases, 
because there is often a strange mixture of good and bad ; 
but without deciding how far any particular revival is 
genuine or spurious, we may safely decide that it is so in 
the same proportion that it is sustained by scriptural or 
unscriptural instrumentality. 

2. A genuine revival is characterized by a due propor- 
tion of reflection and feeling. 

I will not undertake to decide what amount of scriptural 
knowledge is necessary to conversion in any given case, or 
to question the fact that men under certain circumstances 
may be renewed where their knowledge is very limited ; 
nevertheless it is certain that religious reflection precedes 
religious feeling in the order of nature. Before men can 
feel remorse, much more contrition, for their sins, they mast 
have held strongly to their minds the fact that they are sin- 
ners. They must have reflected upon what it is to be a 
sinner ; on the character of God, not only as a Father, but 
a Lawgiver ; on the reasonableness of their obligations to 
Him, and on the guilt of violating those obligations. Before 
they can exercise faith in the Lord lesus Christ, they 
must have reflected on the character of Christ, on the ful- 
ness of his atonement, and on the freeness and sincerity of 
the gospel offer. The Holy Spirit employs the truth not 
only in the work of sanctification, but even in the work 
of conversion ; and the truth can never find its way to 
the heart, except through the understanding. If then 
the great truths of God's word are steadily held up before 
the mind as subjects of reflection ; and if the feeling which 
is manifested by sinners, whether of anxiety and distress, 
or of peace and joy, be the effect of such reflection, there is 
good reason to believe that God's Spirit is really at work, 



LECTURE I. 17 

and that that which claims to be a revival is really one. 
But if, in such a scene, the mind be kept in a great degree 
passive, if there be a great deal of feeling with very little 
thought — burning heat with only dim and doubtful light ; 
if the sensibilities of the soul be wrought into a storm, none 
can tell how or why ; then rely on it, it is not a work which 
God owns ; or if there are some true conversions, far the 
greater number may be expected to prove spurious. But 

3. That on which we are principally to rely as evidence 
of the genuineness of a revival, is its substantial and 
abiding fruit. Precisely the same rule is to be applied to 
a revival as to individual cases of hopeful conversion. 
Those who have been most conversant with the subject of 
religious experience, do not rely chiefly for evidence of 
piety on the pungency of one's convictions, or the tran- 
sports by which they may be succeeded, or the professions 
which may be made of devotedness to Christ ; for they 
have learned that all this is equivocal ; and that delusion 
and self-deception are consistent with the most promising 
appearances which are ever exhibited. While, therefore, 
they may hope favorably from what they see at the begin- 
ning, before they form a decisive opinion they wait to see 
whether the individual can endure temptation ; whether he 
is faithful in the discharge of all duty ; whether he is a 
good soldier of Jesus Christ. And if they see the fruits of 
holiness abounding in the life, whether the appearance at 
the beginning were more or less favorable, they infer with 
confidence that a principle of holiness has been implanted 
in the heart. In the same manner are we to test the cha- 
racter of revivals. If an excitement on the subject of reli- 
gion (no matter how great it may have been) passes away, 
and leaves behind little or no substantial and enduring 
good ; if most of those who profess to have been converted 
return speedily or gradually to the world, living a careless 

5 



18 LKGTURB I. 

life, and exhibiting an unedifying example ; or if they ma- 
nifest a spirit of pride, and uncharitableness, and a disposi- 
tion to condemn all who do not exactly come to their 
standard, then rely on it, though that may be called a re- 
vival of religion, it has little more than the name. But if, 
after the excitement has gone by, the fruits of holiness 
remain and become more and more mature, if those who 
have been professedly converted hold on a course of hum- 
ble, self-denied, devoted obedience, exemplifying the spirit 
of Christ as well as professing his name, then you may 
take knowledge of them that they have come out of a true, 
revival of religion. Religion acted out in the life is the 
best evidence that religion has its dwelling in the heart. 
Let the virtues and graces of the Christian adorn the lives 
of those who have professed to be converted daring a re- 
vival, and you need ask for no better evidence that there 
has been the agency of the Spirit of God. 

Such, as it seems to me, are the characteristics of a ge- 
nuine revival of religion. I shall not stop here to prove 
that such a state of things has every thing in it to interest 
the best feelings of a Christian. If you have ever felt the 
power of God's grace, and especially if your hearts are 
now awake to the interests of his kingdom, and the salva- 
tion of ^our fellow men, it cannot be a matter of indiffer- 
ence with you whether or not God's work is to be revived 
in the midst of us. Let me entreat you, then, as this sub- 
ject is for several successive weeks to occupy your atten- 
tion, to be fellow-helpers together, in humble dependence 
on God's grace, to procure for ourselves those rich bless- 
ings on which your meditations will turn. While we are 
endeavoring to form correct views of this important subject, 
may we get our hearts thoroughly imbued with its spirit ; 
and be able to point with devout joy to Vv^hat is passing in 
the midst of us, as an example of a genuine, scriptural 
revival of reliorion. 



LECTURE II. 



DEFENCE OF REVIVALS. 



ACTS ii. 13. 

Others mocking^ said^ these men are full of new loine. 

The occasion on which these words were spoken, 
marked a memorable era in the history of the church. 
The disciples of Jesus, a few days after his ascension, being 
assembled for devotional exercises in a certain room, in the 
city of Jerusalem, where they had been accustomed to 
meet, were surprised by a marvellous exhibition of the 
mighty power of God. There came suddenly a sound 
from heaven, as of a violent rushing wind ; and, at the 
same time, there appeared unto them a number of divided 
tongues, made as it were of fire ; and it was so ordered, 
that one of these tongues rested upon each of them. And 
at the moment that these tongues, or lambent flames, 
touched them, they were filled, in an extraordinary degree, 
with the Holy Spirit ; and began to speak a variety of 
languages which they had never before understood, with 
a fluency and fervor which were beyond measure astonish- 
ing. It is hardly necessary to add that this was a most 
signal attestation to the divinity of the gospel, and a glorious 
pledge of the Redeemer's final and complete triumph. 



20 LECTURE II, 

It is not strange that so wonderful an event as this 
should have been instantly noised abroad, or that it should 
have excited much curiosity and speculation. Accordingly, 
we are informed that the multitude came together, and 
were amazed to find that the fact was as had been repre- 
sented ; that these ignorant Galileans had suddenly be- 
come masters of a great variety of languages ; and were 
talking with men of different nations as fluently as if they 
had been speaking in their own mother tongue. The true 
way of accounting for this — that is, referring it to miracu- 
lous agency — they all seem to have overlooked ; never- 
theless, as it was manifestly an effect of something, they 
could not but inquire in respect to the cause ; and we have 
one specimen of the wisdom that was exercised on the 
occasion in the words of our text — " Others mocking, said, 
these men are full of new wine ;" — as if they soberly be- 
lieved that a state of intoxication, which often deprives a 
man of the power of speaking his own language, had 
strangely given to them the power of speaking languages 
not their own, and which they had never learned. All 
will admit that this was the very infatuation of prejudice. 

The reason why this absurd and ridiculous account was 
given of this miraculous occurrence was, that the indivi- 
duals were at war with that system of truth of which this 
was pre-eminently the seal ; they could not admit that it 
was an evidence of the triumph of the crucified Jesus ; and 
rather than even seem to admit it, they would sacrifice all 
claims to reason and common sense. Now I would not 
say that all objections that are made against revivals of 
religion, are made in the same spirit which prompted this 
foolish declaration of these early opposers of the gospel ; 
but I am constrained to express my conviction that many 
of them are ; and hence I have chosen the passage now 
read as introductory to a consideration of Objections 



LECTURE II. 21 

AGAINST RjEvivALs. It was actuallj an effusion of the 
Holj Spirit, which drew forth the objection contained in 
the text ; the commencement of a scene, which terminated, 
as revivals now do, in the conversion of many souls, and 
an important addition to the Christian church. 

The sole object of this discourse then, will be to consider, 
and so far as I can, to meet, some of the most popular ob- 
jections which are urged against revivals of religion. And 
I wish it distinctly borne in mind that the defence which I 
am to make relates, not to mere spurious excitements, but 
to genuine revivals ; — such revivals as I have attempted 
to describe in the preceding discourse. 

I. The first of these objections which I shall notice is, 
that revivals of religion, as we use the phrase, are unscrip- 
htral. It is proper that this objection should be noticed 
first, because if it can be sustained, it is of itself a sufficient 
reason not only for indifference towards revivals, but for 
positive opposition to them ; and in that case, as it would 
be unnecessary that we should proceed, so it would be 
only fair that, at the outset, we should surrender the whole 
ground. No matter what else may be said in favor of 
revivals ; no matter how important they may have been 
regarded, or how much we may have been accustomed to 
identify them with the prosperity of Christ's cause ; if it 
can be fairly shown that they are unscriptural, we are 
bound unhesitatingly to conclude that we have mistaken 
their true character. God's word is to be our standard in 
every thing ; and wherever we suffer considerations of 
expediency in reference to this or any other subject, to 
prevail against that standard, we set up our own wisdom 
against the wisdom of the Highest ; and we are sure 
thereby to incur his displeasure. To the law and the 
testimony then be our appeal. 

In order to denominate any thing that is connected with 
5* 



22 LECTURE II. 

the subject of religion unscriptural, it is not enough that 
we should be able to show that it is not expressly com- 
manded ; but we should also make it appear that it is 
either expressly or implicitly forbidden. There are many 
things which all admit to be right among Christians, and 
which are even regarded as important parts of duty, for 
which there is no ea^press warrant in the Bible ; though no 
doubt they judge rightly when they suppose that they find 
a sufficient warrant for these things in the general spirit of 
the Bible. For instance, the Bible has said nothing about 
the monthly concert of prayer for the conversion of the 
world, which is now so generally observed throughout 
evangelical Protestant Christendom ; and of course this is 
not to be regarded as a divine institution ; but so long as 
God has commanded his people to pray for the prosperity 
of Jerusalem, and so long as the Saviour has promised to 
bless them where only two or three are met together in 
his name, it would be folly for any one to contend that the 
monthly concert is an anti-scriptural institution. The 
spirit of the Bible manifestly justifies ii, though the letter 
of the Bible may . not require it. In like manner, even if 
we were to admit that what we call a revival of religion, 
so far as human agency and influence are concerned, were 
not directly required by God's word, nevertheless, if it can 
be shown that it is consistent with the spirit of God's word, 
no man has a right to gainsay it, on the ground that it is 
unscriptural. 

Now we claim for revivals, (and it is the least that we 
claim for them on the score of divine authority,) that there 
is nothing in the general spirit of the Bible that is unfavo- 
rable to them, but much of an opposite character. It is 
the tendency of all the instructions of God's word to form 
men to a habit of serious reflection ; to abstract their affec- 
tions from the world ; to lead them to commune with their 



LECTURE 11. 23 

hearts, and to commune with God, and to seek with greater 
earnestness than any thing else the salvation of the soul. 
Now this is precisely what is accomplished in a revival of 
religion. In such a scene, if any where, is fulfilled the 
great design of God's word in bringing men to serious 
consideration; to self-communion ; to a right estimate of 
the comparative value of the things which are seen and 
are temporal, and the things which are not seen and are 
eternal. We say nothing hereof the means employed, 
but simply speak of the effect produced ; and we are sure 
that no one who admits that the effect is as we have stated, 
will doubt that it is in keeping with the general tenor of 
God's word. 

But we need not stop here : for the Bible has given a 
more direct sanction to revivals; and in various ways. 
Look for instance at many of the prayers which it records, 
as having been offered for the spiritual prosperity of Zion, 
when she was in a state of deep depression. Says the 
Psalmist, " Turn us, O God of our Salvation, and cause 
thine anger towards us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with 
us for ever ? Wilt thou draw out thine anger unto all 
generations 1- Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy 
people may rejoice in ihee ? Show us thy mercy, O Lord, 
and grant us thy salvation." And again, '' Return, we 
beseech thee, O God of Hosts ; look down from heaven, 
and behold and visit this vine ; and the vineyard which thy 
right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest 
strong for thyself" And again, the prophet Habakkuk 
prays — " O Lord, revive thy work ; in the midst of the 
years make known ; in wrath remember mercy." These 
prayers were offered in behalf of the church, when she 
was in a state of temporal bondage, as well as of spiritual 
affliction ; nevertheless, they relate especially to spiritual 
blessings ; and what was meant by a revival then, was 



24 LECTURE 11. 

substantially the same thing as what is intended by a re- 
vival now. Accordingly, we find that these very prayers 
a^re constantly used by the church at this day; and that 
from a regard to them, as we cannot doubt, God often ap- 
pears to lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes ; the 
blessings of divine grace descend upon her in such profu- 
sion, that she puts on her beautiful garments, and looks 
forth fair as the morning. 

There are also recorded in the scriptures many signal 
instances in which God has poured out his spirit, and 
effected a sudden and general reformation. If you go 
back to the Jewish dispensation, you will find this remark 
strikingly verified in the reigns of David and Solomon, of 
Asa and Jehosaphat, of Hezekiah and Josiah. After the 
church had languished during the long and gloomy period 
of the Babylonish captivitj^, her interests were signally 
revived under the ministry of Ezra. A similar state of 
things existed in the days of John the Baptist, when the 
kingdom of heaven is said to have suffered violence, and 
many of the most profligate part of the community became 
impressed with religious truth, and were baptized unto 
repentance. On the occasion referred to in our text, no 
less than three thousand, and on the day following two 
thousand more, were subdued to the obedience of the truth, 
and were added to the Lord. Shortly after this, multitudes 
in Samaria experienced the regenerating power of the 
gospel; and upon the dispersion of the disciples after the 
martyrdom of Stephen, they were instrumental of exciting 
a general attention to religion in the remote parts of Judea, 
and even as far as the territories of Greece. Here then 
are facts recorded by the unerring finger of inspiration, 
precisely analagous to those which the objection we are 
considering declares to be unscriptural. 

But in addition to this, there is much in the prophecies 



LECTURE IL 25 

which might fairly lead its to expect the very scenes which 
we denominate revivals of religion. If you read the pro- 
phetical parts of scripture attentively, you cannot, I think, 
but be struck with the evidence that, as the millenial day 
approaches, the operations of divine grace are to be in- 
creasingly rapid and powerful. Many of these predictions 
respecting the state of religion under the Christian dispen- 
sation, it is manifest, have not yet had their complete ful- 
filment ; and they not only justify the belief that these 
glorious scenes which we see passing really are of divine 
origin, as they claim to be, but that similar scenes, still 
more glorious, still more wonderful, are to be expected, as 
the Messiah travels in the greatness of his strength towards 
a universal triumph. I cannot but think that many of the 
inspired predictions in respect to the progress of religion, 
appear overstrained, unless we admit that the church is to 
see greater things than she has yet seen ; and that they 
fairly warrant the conclusion that succeeding generations 
rejoicing in the brighter light of God's truth, and the richer 
manifestations of his grace, may look back even upon 
this blessed era of revivals, as a period of comparative 
darkness. 

If then the general spirit of the Bible be in favor of revi- 
vals ; if the prayers which holy and inspired men have 
offered for them are hete recorded ; if there be many in- 
stances here mentioned of their actual occurrence ; and if 
the spirit of prophecy has been exercised in describing and 
predicting them ; then we may consider the objection that 
they are unscriptural as fairly set aside ; nay, we may 
regard them as having the sanction of divine authority in 
the highest and clearest possible manner. 

II. It is objected, again, that revivals of religion are 
unnecessary. In the mouth of an infidel, this objection 
would doubtless imply that religion itself is unnecessary ; 



26 LECTURE II. 

and so, of course, must be all the means used for its pro- 
motion. But in this view it does not fall within our present 
design to consider it. There are those who profess to re- 
gard religion, who maintain that revivals are modern inno- 
vations ; and that they are unnecessary on the ground that 
the cause of Christ may be sustained and advanced, as it 
has been in other day», without them. This is the only 
form of the objection which it concerns us at present to 
notice. 

The first thing to be said in reply, is, that the objection 
supposes what is not true — viz. that revivals are of modern 
origin. The truth is that if, as the objection asserts, the 
cause of religion in preceding ages has been sustained and 
carried forward without them, so also it has been sustained 
and carried forward with them ; and during the periods in 
which they have prevailed, the church has seen her greatest 
prosperity. You have already seen that, instead of being 
of recent origin, they go back to an early period in the 
Jewish dispensation. And passing from the records of in- 
spiration, we find that revivals have existed, with a greater 
or less degree of power, especially in the later periods of 
the Christian church. This was emphatically true during 
the period of the Reformation in the sixteenth century ; 
Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, the 
Low Countries, and Britain, were severally visited by co- 
pious showers of divine influence. Duiing the season of 
the plague in London in 1665, there was a very general 
awakening ; in which many thousands are said to have 
been hopefully born of the Spirit. In the early part of the 
seventeenth century, various parts of Scotland and the 
north of Ireland, were blessed, at different periods, with 
signal effusions of divine grace, in which great multitudes 
gave evidence of being brought out of darkness into mar- 
vellous light. During the first half of the last century, 



LECTUEE II. 27 

under the ministrations of Whitfield, Braiiiard, Edwards, 
Da vies, the Tennents, and many other of the holiest and 
greatest men whose labors have blessed the church, there 
was a succession of revivals in this country, which caused 
the wilderness to blossom as the rose, and the desert to put 
on the appearance of the garden of the Lord. And when 
these revivals declined, and the church settled back into 
the sluggish state from which she had been raised, then 
commenced her decline in purity, in discipline, in doctrine, 
in all with which her prosperity is most intimately con- 
nected. And this state of things continued, only becoming 
worse and worse, until, a little before the beginning of the 
present century, the spirit of revivals again burst forth, and 
has since that period richly blessed especially our American 
church. The fact then, most unfortunately for the objection 
we are considering, turns out to be, that if the church has 
been sustained at some periods without these signal effu- 
sions of the Holy Spirit, she has barely been sustained ; 
and that the brightest periods of her history have been 
those, in which they have prevailed with the greatest 
power. To object to revivals then on the ground that they 
are modern, or that they are unnecessary to the best 
interests of the church, betrays an utter ignorance of their 
history. 

But let us inquire a little further why the old and quiet 
way, as it is often represented, of becoming religious, is the 
best. If you mean that you prefer that state of religion in 
which the dews of divine grace continually descend, and 
Christians are always consistent and active, and there is a 
constant succession of conversions from among the impeni- 
tent, to the more sudden and rapid operations of God's 
Spirit — be it so ; there is as truly a revival in the one case 
as the other. But the state of things which this objection 
contemplates is that in which religion is kept in the back 



28 LECTURE II. 

ground, and only here and there one at distant periods, 
comes forward to confess Christ, and the church is habitu- 
ally in a languishing state. And is such a state of things 
to be preferred above that in which the salvation of the 
soul becomes the all-engrossing object, and even hundreds 
within a little period, come and own themselves on the 
Lord's side ? Is it not desirable that sinners should be 
converted immediately? Are they liable every hour to 
die, and thus be beyond the reach of mercy and of hope ; 
and is it not right that they should be pressed with the 
obligations of immediate repentance ; and is it not necessary 
that they should exert themselves to escape the tremendous 
doom by which they are threatened ? Is it more desirable 
that the mass of sinners should be sleeping on in guilty 
security, liable every hour to fall into the hands of a sin- 
avenging God, or that they should be escaping by multi- 
tudes from the coming wrath, and gaining an interest in 
the salvation of the gospel ? He, and only he, who will 
dare to say that the former is most desirable, can consist- 
ently object to revivals on the ground that the church had 
better revert to the quiet uniformity of other days. 

Still farther : Before you decide that revivals are unne- 
cessary, you must either settle it that they are not the 
work of God, or else you must assume the responsibility 
of deciding that he is not doing his work in the best way. 
Will you take the former side of the alternative, and main- 
tain that this is not God's work ? If you say this, then I^ 
challenge you to prove that God ever works in the reno- 
vation of men ; for the only evidence of the existence of a 
principle of religion in the heart, is the operation of that 
principle in the life ; and I hesitate not to say that I can 
show you as unequivocal fruits of holiness produced from 
a revival of religion, as you can show me in any other 
circumstances. Unless then you will assunae the respon- 



LECTURE il. 29 

sibility of saying that all the apparent faith, and love, and 
zeal, and holiness, which are produced from a revival, and 
which, so far as we can judge, have every characteristic 
of genuineness, are spurious, it were rash to decide that 
this is not a work effected by the agency of the Holy 
Spirit. 

But if you admit that this is God's work, you surely 
will not dare to say that his way of accomplishing his 
purpose is not the b^st. Suppose that nothing appeared 
to render this course of procedure especially desirable, yet 
the point being established that it is the course which God 
hath chosen, the reflection that God^s ways are not as our 
ways, ought to silence every doubt. But who, after all, 
will say that it even appears inconsistent with infinite 
wisdom and goodness, as the cause of God is advancing 
towards a complete triumph, that he should operate more 
powerfully, more suddenly, than in some other periods ; in 
short, precisely as he does in a revival of religion ? Has 
God bound himself that he will convert men only by small 
numbers, or by a very gradual influence ; or does he not 
rather, in this respect, claim the right of absolute sovereign- 
ty ? I ask again in view of the bearing which this objec- 
tion has upon the character of God, who will dare say that 
revivals are unnecessary ? 

III. Another objection against revivals is, that they are 
the nurseries of enthusiasm. 

If by enthusiasm you mean a heated imagination that 
prompts to excesses in conduct, then you meet with it in 
other departments beside that of revivals. You will see 
as much enthusiasm in a political cabal, or in an election 
of civil oflQcers, or in a commercial speculation, or even in 
the pursuits of science, as you will find in a revival of reli- 
gion. Yes, believe me, there is a worldly as well as a 
religious enthusiasm : and let me inquire how it comes to 

6 



30 LECTURE II. 

pass that you can tolerate the former, nay perhaps that 
you can exemplify and cherish it, and yet can regard the 
latter with so much disapprobation and abhorrence ? Does 
it not look a little as if your objection lay rather against 
religion — the subject in respect to which the enthusiasm 
is exercised, than against the enthusiasm itself? 

But are you sure that in passing judgment on the en- 
thusiasm connected with revivals, you always call things 
by their right names ? Is it not more than possible that 
much of what you call by this name, may be the fervor of 
true love to God, and of genuine Christian zeal ? Suppose 
you were to go into a meeting composed entirely of persons 
of the same religious character with Isaiah, or David, or 
Paul ; and suppose they were to utter themselves in 
expressions not more fervent than these holy men have 
actually used, do you not believe that you would think 
there was some enthusiasm in that meeting, and that the 
exercises would be better if they partook a little more of 
the earthly and a little less of the heavenly ? Between 
enthusiasm on the one hand, and conviction of sin and love 
to God, and zeal in religion on the other, there is really no 
affinity ; they are as unlike each other as any genuine 
quality is unlike its counterfeit ; but is there not some 
danger that they who have a heart opposed to religion^ 
and who are willing to find excuses for the neglect of it^ 
will brand some of the Christian graces when they shine 
with unusual brightness, with the opprobrious epithet of 
enthusiasm? 

But suppose there is some real enthusiasm mingled with 
revivals, (and to a certain extent, this no doubt must be 
admitted,) shall we on this ground reject them altogether ? 
Because some few individuals in such a scene may act the 
part of enthusiasts, is all the true Christian feelihg, and 
Christian conduct, which is excinplified by many others to 



LECTURE II. 31 

be considered of no account ? Or suppose, if you will, that 
a small degree of enthusiasm may pertain to all, does this 
nullify all the exercises of genuine and perhaps elevated 
piety with which it may happen to be connected ? Where 
is the man who adopts the same principle in respect to his 
worldly affairs ? If you should import the productions of 
some foreign clime, and should discover that a small part 
of the quantity had been injured by the voyage, and that 
the rest had not suffered at all, would you cast the whole 
of it from you, or would you not rather make a careful 
separation between the good and the bad, retaining the 
one, and rejecting the other? Or if you should hear a 
lecture on science, or politics, or religion, or any other 
subject, in which you should discover a few mistakes, 
while nearly the whole of it was sound, and practical, and 
in a high degree instructive, would you condemn the whole 
for these trifling errors, and say it was all a mass of absur- 
dity, or would you not rather treasure it up in your memory 
as in the main excellent, though you felt that, like every 
thing human, it was marred by imperfection 1 And- why 
should not the same principle be admitted in respect to 
revivals ? Is it right, is it honest, because there may be 
in them a small admixture of enthusiasm, to treat them as 
if they were made up of enthusiasm and nothing else ? 
Would it not be more equitable, would it not be more can- 
did, to separate the precious from the vile, and to let the 
sentence of condemnation fall only where it is deserved ? 

But perhaps I shall be met here with the declaration 
that there are scenes which pass for revivals of religion, in 
which there is nothing but enthusiasm and its kindred 
evils ; scenes which outrage the decorum of religious 
worship, and exert no other influence upon religion than 
to bring it into contempt. Be it so. If there be such 
scenes, whatever name they may assume, they are nat 



32 LECTURE il. 

what we plead for under the name of revivals; on the 
contrary, every friend of true revivals must, if he be con- 
sistent, set his face against them. And I maintain further, 
that it is gross injustice to the cause of revivals, to confound 
those scenes in which there is nothing but the wild fire of 
human passion, with those in which there is the manifest 
operation of the Holy Spirit. Suppose you should see a 
man practising the extreme of avarice, and calling it by 
the honest name of economy ; or suppose you should see 
a man inflexibly obstinate in an evil course, and calling his 
obstinacy virtuous independence ; would this justify you 
in setting at naught a habit of economy and independence, 
as if a virtue could be turned into a vice by the misappli- 
cation of a name ? And suppose that any man, or any 
number of men, choose to yield theraselves up to gross 
fanaticism, and to attempt to pass it off under the name of 
religion, or of a revival of religion, who is there that does 
not perceive that the existence of the counterfeit contributes 
in no way to debase the genuine quality ? Prove to me 
that any thing that takes the name of a revival is really 
spurious, and I pledge myself as a friend of true revivals, 
to be found on the list of its opposers. Names are nothing. 
Things, facts, realities, are every thing. 

IV. Another objection to revivals closely allied to the 
preceding is, that the subjects of them often fall into a state 
of mental derangement^ and even commit suicide. 

The fact implied in this objection is, to a certain extent, 
acknowledged ; that is, it is acknowledged that instances 
of the kind mentioned do sometimes occur. But is it fair, 
after all, to consider revivals as responsible for them? 
Every one who has any knowledge of the human consti- 
tution, must be aware that the- mind is liable to derange- 
ment from any cause that operates in the way of great 
excitement ; jand whether this effect in any given case w 



LECTURE It. 23 

to be produced or not, depends partly on the peculiar cha^ 
racter of the mind which is the subject of the operation, 
and partly on the degree of self-control which the individual 
is enabled to exercise. Hence we find on the list of ma- 
niacs, and of those who have committed suicide, many in 
respect to whom this awful calamity is to be traced to the 
love of the world. Their plans for accumulating* wealth 
have been blasted, and when they expected to be rich they 
have suddenly found themselves in poverty and perhaps 
obscurity; and instead of sustaining themselves against 
the shock, they have yielded to it ; and the consequence 
has been the wreck of their intellect, and the sacrifice of 
their life. You who are men of business well know that 
the case to which I have here referred is one of no uncom- 
mon occurrence ; but who of you ever thought that these 
cases reflected at all upon the fair and honorable pursuit 
of the world 1- Where is the merchant who, on hearing 
that some commercial adventurer had become deranged in 
consequence of some miserable speculation, and had been 
found dead with a halter about his neck, ever said, '' I will 
close my accounts and shut up my store, and abandon this 
business of buying and selling, which leads to such fatal 
results ?" Is there one of you who ever made such an 
inference from such a fact ; or who ever relaxed at all in 
your worldly occupation, on the ground that some indivi- 
duals had perverted the same occupation to their ruin ? 
Here you are careful enough to distinguish between the 
thing, and the abuse of it ; and why not be equally candid 
in respect to revivals of religion ? When you hear of in- 
stances of suicide in revivals, remember that such instances 
occur in other scenes of Hfe, and other departments of ac- 
tion ; and if you are not prepared to make commerce, and 
learning, and politics, and virtuous attachment, responsible 
for this aw^ful calamity, because it is sometimes connected 

6^' 



34 LECTURE IL 

with them, then do not attempt to cast this responsibility 
upon religion, or revivals of religion, because here too indi- 
viduals are sometimes left to this most fearful visitation. 

I have said that some such cases as the objection sup- 
poses occur ; but I maintain that the number is, by the 
enemies of revivals, greatly overrated. Twenty men may 
become insane, and may actually commit suicide from any 
other cause, and the fact will barely be noticed ; but let 
one come to this awful end in consequence of religious ex- 
citement, and it will be blazoned upon the house top, with 
an air of melancholy boding and yet with a feeling of real 
triumph ; and many a gazette will introduce it with some 
sneering comments on religious fanaticism ; and the result 
will be that it will become a subject of general notoriety 
and conversation. In this way, the number of these me- 
lancholy cases comes to be imagined much larger than it 
really is ; and in the common estimate of the opposers of 
revivals, it is no doubt multiplied many fold. 

But admitting that the number of these cases were as 
great as its enemies would represent — -admit that in every 
extensive revival there were one person who actually be- 
came deranged, and fell a victim to that derangement, are 
you prepared to say, even then, upon an honest estimate 
of the comparative good and evil that is accomplished, that 
that revival had better not have taken place ? On the one 
side, estimate fairly the evil ; and we have no wish to make 
it less than it really is. There is the premature death of 
an individual ; — death in the most unnatural and shocking 
form ; and fitted to harrow the feelings of friends to the 
utmost. There may be a temporary loss of usefulness to 
the WiOrld ; and as the case may be, a loss of counsel, and 
aid, and effort, in some of the tenderest earthly relations. 
Yet it is not certain but that the soul may be saved : for 
though, at the time the awful act is committed, there may 



LECTURE II. 35 

be thick darkness hanging about it, and even the phrenzy 
of despair may have seized hold of it, yet no mortal can 
decide that God's Spirit may not after all have performed 
its effectual work ; and that the soul, liberated from the 
body by the most dreadful act which man can commit, 
may not find its way to heaven, to be for ever with the 
Lord. But suppose the very worst — suppose this sinner 
who falls in a fit of religious insanity, by the violence of his 
own hand, to be unrenewed— why in this case he rushes 
prematurely upon the wrath of God ; he cuts short the 
period of his probation ; which, had it been protracted, he 
might or might not, have improved to the salvation of his 
soul. Look now at the other side. In the revival in which 
this unhappy case has occurred, besides the general quick- 
ening impulse that has been given to the people of God, 
perhaps one hundred individuals have had their character 
renovated, and their doom reversed. Each one of these 
was hastening forward perhaps to a death-bed of horror, 
certainly to an eternity of wailing ; but in consequence of 
the change that has passed upon them, they can now an- 
ticipate the close of life with peace, and the ages of eternity 
with unutterable joy. There is no longer any condemna- 
tion to them, because they are in Christ Jesus, Jlnd be- 
sides, they are prepared to live usefully in the world ; — 
each of them to glorify God by devoting himself, according 
to his ability, to the advancement of his cause. Now far be 
it from us to speak lightly of such a heart-rending event as 
the death of a fellow-mortal, in the circumstances we have 
supposed ; but if any will weigh this against the advan- 
tages of a revival, we have a right to weigh the advantages 
of a revival against this ; and to call upon you to decide 
for yourselves which preponderates ? Is the salvation of 
olae hundred immortal souls, (supposing that number to be 
converted,) a light matter, when put into the scale against 



35 - LECTURE th 

the premature and awful death of a shigle individual ; oif 
to suppose the very worst of the case — his cutting short 
his space for' repentance, and rushing unprepared into the 
presence of his Judge '? 

V, It is further objected against revivals, that they 
occasion a sort of religious dissipation ; leading men to 
neglect their w^orldly concerns for too many religious ex- 
ercises ; exercises too, protracted, not unfrequently, to an 
unseasonable hour. 

No doubt it is possible for men to devote themselves 
more to social religious services than is best for their spirit- 
ual interests ; because a constant attendance on these ser- 
vices would interfere with the more private means of grace, 
which all must admit are of primary importance. But 
who are the persons by whom this objection is most fre- 
quently urged, and who seem to feel the weight of it most 
strongly !■ Are they those who actually spend most time 
in their closets, and who come forth into the world with 
their hearts deeply imbued with a religious influence, and 
who perform their secular duties from the most conscien- 
tious regard to God's authority 1 Or are thej^ not rather 
t]iose who rarely, if ever, retire to commune with God, and 
who engage in the business of life from mere selfish consi- 
derations ; — -who, in short, are thorough-going worldlings ? 
If a multitude of religious meetings are to be censured on 
the ground of their interference with other duties, I submit 
it to you whether this censure comes with a better grace 
from him who performs these duties, or from him who _ 
neglects them ? I submit it to you, whether the man who 
is conscious of living in the entire neglect of religion, ought 
to be very lavish in his censures upon those who are 
yielding their thoughts to it in any way, or to any extent? 
Would it not be more consistent at least for him to take 



LECTURE n. 37 

care of the beam, before he troubles himself about the 
mote ? 

Far be it from me to deny that the evil which this ob- 
jection contemplates does sometim.es exist ; — that men, and 
especially women, do neglect private and domestic duties 
for the sake of mingling continually in social religious 
exercises : nevertheless, I am constrained to say that the 
objection, as it is directed against the mass of Christians, 
during a well regulated revival, is utterly unfounded. For 
I ask who are the persons who have ordinarily the best 
regulated families, who are most faithful to their children, 
most faithful in their closets, most faithful and conscientious 
in their relative duties, and even in their worldly engage- 
ments ? If 1 may be permitted to answer, I should say 
unhesitatingly, they are generally the very persons, who 
love the social prayer meeting, and the meeting for 
Christian instruction and exhortation ; those in short who 
are often referred to by the enemies of revivals, as exem- 
plifying the evil which this objection contemplates. God 
requires us to do every duty, whether secular or religious, 
in its right place ; and this the Christian is bound to keep 
in view in all his conduct. But there is^ too mAich reason 
to fear that the spirit which ordinarily objects against many 
religious exercises, is a spirit, which, if the whole truth 
were known, it would appear, had little complacency in 
any. 

But it is alleged that, during revivals, religious meetings 
are not only multiplied to an improper extent, but are pro- 
tracted to an unseasonable hour. That instances of this 
kind exist admits not of question ; and it is equally certain 
that the case here contemplated is an evil which every 
sober, judicious Christian must discourage. We do not 
believe that in an enlightened community, it is an evil of 
very frequent occurrence ; but wherever it exists, it is to 



38 LECTURE If. 

be reprobated as an abuse, and not to be regarded as any 
part of a genuine revival ; or as any thing for which a 
true revival is responsible. But here again, it may be 
worth while to inquire how far many of the individuals 
who offer this objection are consistent with themselves. 
They can be present at a political cabal, or at a convivial 
meeting, which lasts the whole night, and these occasions 
may be of very frequent occurrence, and yet it may never 
occur to them that they are keeping unseasonable hours. 
Or their children may return at the dawn of day, from a 
scene of vain amusement, in which they have brought on 
an entire prostration both of mind and body, and unfitted 
themselves for any useful exertion during the day ; and 
yet all this is not only connived at as excusable, but smiled 
upon as commendable. I Mo not say that it is right to 
keep up a religious meeting during the hours that Provi- 
dence has allotted to repose : I believe fully that in ordinary 
cases it is wrong ; but sure I am that I could not hold up 
my head to say this, if I were accustomed to look with in- 
dulgence on those other scenes of the night of which I 
have spoken. It is best to spend the night as God designed 
it should be spent, in refreshing our faculties by sleep ; but 
if any other way is to be chosen, judge ye whether they 
are wisest, who deprive themselves of repose in an idle 
round of diversion, or they who subject themselves to the 
same sacrifice in exercises of devotion and piety. 

VL Tt is objected against revivals that they often intro- 
duce discord into families^ and disturb the general peace of 
society. 

It must be conceded that rash and intemperate measures 
have sometimes been adopted in connection with revivals, 
or at least w^hat have passed under the name of revivals, 
which have been deservedly the subject of censure, and 
which were adapted, by stirring up the worst passions of 



LECTURE II. 39 

the heart, to introduce a spirit of fierce contention and dis- 
cord. But I must be permitted to say that, whatever 
evil such measures may bring in their train, is not to be 
charged upon genuine revivals of religion. The revivals 
for which we plead are characterized, not by a spirit of 
rash and unhallowed attack on the part of their friends, 
which might be supposed to have come up from the world 
heloWjbut by that wisdom which cometh down from above; 
which is pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated. 
For all the discord and mischief that result from measures 
designed to awaken opposition and provoke the bad pas- 
sions, they only are to be held responsible by whom those 
measures are devised or adopted. We hesitate not to say 
that there is no communion between the spirit that dictates 
them, and the spirit of true revivals. 

Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that there are 
instances, in which a revival of religion conducted in a 
prudent and scriptural manner, awakens bitter hostility, 
and sometimes occasions, for the time, much domestic 
unhappiness. There are cases in which the enmity of the 
heart is so deep and bitter, that a bare knowledge of the 
fact that sinners around are beginning to inquire, will draw 
forth a torrent of reproach and railing ; and there are cases 
too4n which the fact that an individual in a family becomes 
professedly pious, will throw that family into a violent com- 
motion, and waken up against the individual bitter preju- 
dices, and possibly be instrumental of exiling a child, or a 
wife, or a sister, from the affections of those most dear to 
them. But you surely will not make religion, or a revival 
of religion, responsible for cases of this kind. Did not the 
benevolent Jesus himself say that he came not to send peace 
on the earth but a sword ; — meaning hy it this very thing, 
that in prosecutmg the object of his mission mto the world, 
he should necessarily provoke the enmity of the human 



40 LECTURE II. 

heart, and thus that enmity would act itself out in the per- 
secution of himself and his followers ? The Saviour, by 
his perfect innocence, his divine holiness, his "ancompromi- 
sing faithfulness, provoked the Jews to imbrue their hands 
in his blood , but who ever supposed that the responsibility 
of their murderous act rested upon him ? In like manner, 
ministers and Christians, by laboring for the promotion of 
a revival of religion, may be the occasion of fierce opposi- 
tion to the cause of truth and holiness ; but if they labor 
only in the manner which God has prescribed, they are in 
no way accountable for that opposition. It will always be 
right for individuals to secure the salvation of their own 
souls, let it involve whatever domestic inconvenience, or 
whatever worldly sacrifice it may. And so, too, it will be 
always right for Christians to labor in God's appointed way 
for the salvation of others ; though in doing so, they should 
kindle up against them the fiercest opposition. 'Where such 
opposition is excited, the opposers of religion may set to the 
account of revivals ; but God the righteous Judge will take 
care that it is charged where it fairly belongs. 

VII. It is objected, again, to revivals that the supposed 
conversions that occur in them are usually too sudden to be 
genuine ; and that the excitement which prevails at such a 
time, must he a fruitful source of self deception. 

That re^dvals are often perverted to minister to self-decep- 
tion cannot be questioned ; and this is always to be expect- 
ed, when there is much of human machinery introduced. 
Men often suppose themselves converted, and actually pass 
as converts, merely from some impulse of the imagination, 
when they have not even been the subjects of true convic- 
tion. But notwithstanding this abuse, who will say that 
the Bible does not warrant us to expect sudden conver- 
sions % What say you of the three thousand who were 
converted on the day of pentecost ? Shall I be told that 



LECTURE II, 41 

there was a miraculous agency concerned in producing that 
wonderful result 1 I answer there was indeed a miracle 
wrought in connection with that occasion ; but there was 
no greater miracle in the actual conversion of those sin- 
ners than there is in the conversion of any other sinners ; 
for conversion is in all cases the same work ; and accom- 
plished by the same agency — viz. the special agency of the 
Holy Spirit. This instance then is entirely to our purpose ; 
and proves at least the possibility that a conversion may 
be sound, though it be sudden. 

Nor is there any thing in the nature of the case that 
should lead us to a different conclusion. For what is con- 
version ? It is a turning from sin to holiness. The truth 
of God is presented before the mind, and this truth is cor- 
dially and practically believed ; it is received into the under- 
standing, and through that reaches the heart and life. 
Suppose thetruthtobe held up before the mind already awake 
to its importance, and in a sense prepared for its reception, 
what hinders but that it should be received immediately ? 
But this would be all that is intended by a sudden conver- 
sion. Indeed, we all admit that the act of conversion, 
whenever it takes place, is sudden ; and why may not the 
preparation for it, in many instances, be so also ? Where 
is theabsurdity of supposing that a sinner may, within a very 
short period, be brought practically to believe both the truth 
that awakens the conscience, and that which converts the 
soul ; — in other words, may pass from a state of absolute 
carelessness to reconciliation with God ? The evidence of 
conversion must indeed be gradual, and must develope itself 
in a subsequent course of exercises and acts ; so that it 
were rash to pronounce any individual in such circum- 
stances a true convert ; but not only the act of conversion, 
but the immediate preparation for it, maj be sudden ; and we 

7 



42 LECTURE 11. 

may reasonably hope, in any given case of apparent conver- 
sion, that the change is genuine, 

I may add that the general spirit of the Bible is, by no 
means, unfavorable to sudden conversions. The Bible 
calls upon men to repent ; to believe ; to turn to the Lord 
now ; it does not direct them to put themselves on a course 
of preparation for doing this at some future time ; but it 
allows no delay ; it proclaims that now is the accepted 
time, now the day of salvation. When men are converted 
suddenly, is there any thing more than an immediate com- 
pliance with these divine requisitions which are scattered 
throughout the Bible ? 

But what is the testimony of facts on this subject ? It 
were in vain to deny that some who seem to be converted 
during the most genuine revivals fall away ; and it were 
equally vain to deny that some who profess to have become 
reconciled to God, when there is no revival, fall away. 
But that any considerable proportion of the professed sub- 
jects of well re-gulated revivals apostatize, especially after 
having made a public profession, is a position which I am 
persuaded cannot be sustained. I know there are indivi- 
dual exceptions from this remark ; exceptions which have 
occurred under peculiar circumstances ; but if I mistake 
not, those ministers who have had the most experience on 
this subject, will testify that a very large proportion of those, 
whom they have known professedly beginning the Christian 
life during a revival, have held on their way stronger and 
stronger. It has even been remarked by a minister who 
has probably been more conversant with genuine revivals 
than any other of the age, that his experience has justified 
the remark, that there is a smaller proportion of apostacies 
among the professed subjects of revivals than among those 
who make a profession when there is no unusual attention 
to relidon. 



LECTURE 11. 4H 

After all, we are willing to admit 4hat the excitement 
attending a revival maj be the means of self-deception. 
But we maintain that this is not, at least to any great ex- 
tent, a necessary evil, and that it may ordinarily be pre- 
vented by suitable watchfulness and caution on the part of 
those who are active in conducting the work. To accom- 
plish this requires an intimate knowledge of the heart, and 
of God's word, and of the whole subject of experimental 
religion. But with these qualifications, whether in a mi- 
nister or in private Christians ; and with the diligent and 
faithful discharge of duty, we believe that little more is to 
be apprehended in respect to self-deception during a revival, 
than might reasonably be in ordinary circumstances. 

VIII. It is objected that revivals are followed by seasons 
of corresponding declension ; and thatj therefore^ nothing 
is gained^ on the whole^ to the cause of religion. 

This remark must of course be limited in its appHcation 
to those who were before Christians ; — for it surely cannot 
mean that those who are really converted during a revival, 
lose the principle of religion from their hearts, after it has 
passed away. Suppose then it be admitted that Christians, 
on the whole, gain no advantage from revivals, on account 
of the re- action that takes place in their experience ; still 
there is the gain of a great number of genuine conversions ; 
and this is clear gain from the world. Is it not immense 
gain to the church, immense gain to the Saviour, that a 
multitude of souls should yield up their rebellion, and be- 
come the subjects of renewing grace ? And if this is an 
effect of revivals, (and who can deny it ?) what becomes 
of the objection that, on the whole, they bring no gain to 
the cause ? 

Bat it is not true that revivals are of no advantage to 
Christians. It is confidently believed, if you could hear 
the experience of those who have labored in them most 



44 LECTURE II. 

faithfully and most successfully, you would learn that these 
were the seasons in which they made their brightest and 
largest attainments in religion. And these seasons they 
have not failed subsequently to connect with special praise 
and thanksgiving to God. That there are cases in which 
Christians, during a revival, have had so much to do with 
the hearts of others, that they have neglected their own ; . 
and that there is danger, from the very constitution of the ^ 
human mind, that an enlivened and elevated state of - 
Christian affections will be followed by spiritual languor.-/ 
and listlessness, I admit ; but I maintain that these are not ' ■ : 
necessary evils ; and that the Christian, by suitable watch- 
fulness and effort, may avoid them. It is not in human / 
nature always to be in a state of strong excitement ; but 
it is possible for any Christian to maintain habitually that ' 
spirit of deep and earnest piety, which a revival is so well 
fitted to awaken and cherish. 

IX. The last objection against revivals which I shall 
notice is, that they cherish the spirit of sectarianism^ and 
furnish opportunities and inducements to different denomi- 
nations to make proselytes. 

I own, brethren, with grief and shame for our common 
imperfections, that the evil contemplated in this objection 
frequently does occur ; and though, for a time, different 
sects may seem to co-operate with each other for the ad- 
vancement of the common cause, yet they are exceedingly 
apt, sooner or later, to direct their efforts mainly to the 
promotion of their own particular cause ; and sometimes 
it must be confessed the greater has seemed to be almost 
forgotten in the less. Wherever this state of things exists, 
it is certainly fraught with evil ; and the only remedy to 
be found for it is an increased degree of intelligence, piety, 
and charity, in the church. 

But here again, let me remind you that, let this evil be 



LECTURE II 4 ; 

as great as it may, the most you can say of its connection 
with revivals is, that they are the innocent occasion of it — 
not the faulty cause. Suppose an individual, or any num- 
ber of individuals, were to take occasion from the fact that 
we are assembled here for religious worship, to come in, in 
violation of the laws of the land, and by boisterous and 
menacing conduct, to disturb our public service ; and sup- 
pose they should find themselves forthwith within the walls 
of a jail ; — the fact of our being here engaged in the worship 
of God might be the occasion of the evil which they had 
brought upon themselves ; but surely no man in the pos- 
session of his reason would dream that it was the respon- 
sible cause. In like manner, a revival may furnish an 
opportunity, and suggest an inducement, to different reli- 
gious sects to bring as many into their particular commu- 
nion as they can ; and they may sometimes do this in the 
exercise of an unhallowed party spirit ; but the evil is to 
be charged, not upon the revival, but upon the imperfections 
of Christians and ministers, which have taken occasion 
from this state of things, thus to come into exercise. The 
revival is from above : the proselyting spirit is from beneath. 
But the fallacy of this objection may best be seen by a 
comparison of the evil complained of, with the good that is 
achieved. You and I are Presbyterians ; but w^e profess 
to believe that our neighbors of many of the different de- 
nominations around us, hold the fundamental truths of the 
gospel, and are walking in the way to heaven. As Pres- 
byterians we have a right, and it is our duty to take special 
heed to the interests of our own church ; but much as we 
may venerate her order or her institutions, who among us 
is there that does not regard Christian as a much more 
hallowed name ? In other words, where is the man who 
would not consider it comparatively a light matter whether 
an individual should join our particular communion or some 

7* 



46 LECTURE II. 

Other, provided he gave evidence of being a real disciple of 
Christ !■ Now apply this remark to revivals. The evil 
complained of is, that different sects manifest an undue 
zeal to gather as many of the hopeful subjects of revivals 
as they can into their respective communions. Suppose 
it be so — and what is the result? Why that they are 
training up — not as we should say, perhaps, under the best 
form of church government, or possibly the most unexcep- 
tionable views of Christian doctrine — but still in the bosom 
of the church of God, under the dispensation of his word, 
and in the enjoyment of his ordinances, and in communion 
with his people — are training up to become members of 
that communion in which every other epithet will, be 
merged in that of sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. 
Place then, on the one side, the fact that these individuals 
are to remain in their sins, supposing there is no revival of 
religion, and on the other, the fact that they are to be 
proselyted, if you please, to some other Christian sect, 
provided there is one ; and then tell me whether the objec- 
tion which I am considering does not dwindle to nothing. 
I would not deem it uncharitable to say that the man who 
could maintain this objection in this view, that is, the man 
who could feel more complacency in seeing his fellow men 
remain in his own denomination dead in trespasses and 
sins, than in seeing them join other denominations giving 
evidence of being the followers of the Lord Jesus, whatever 
other sect he may belong to, does not belong to the sect of 
true disciples. Whatever may be his shibboleth, rely on 
it, he has not learned to talk in the dialect of heaven. 

I have presented this subject before you, my friends, at 
considerable length, not because I have considered myself 
as addressing a congregation hostile to revivals — for I bear 
you testimony that it is not so — but because most of the 
objections which have been noticed are more or less current 



LECTURE U. 47 

in the commimitj, and I have wished to guard jou against 
the influence of these objections on the one hand, and to 
assist JOU to be always ready to give an answer to any 
one that asketh a reason of your views of this subject on 
the other. I hope that what has been said may confirm 
your conviction that the cause of revivals is emphatically 
the Saviour's cause ; and that you may be disposed, each 
one to labor in it with increased diligence and zeal. And 
may your labors be characterized by such Christian pru- 
dence, and tenderness, and fidelity, that while you shall 
see a rich blessing resting upon them, they may have a 
tendency to silence the voice of opposition, and increase 
the number of those who shall co-operate with you in sus- 
taining and advancing this glorious cause, 



LECTURE III . 

OBSTACLES TO REVIVALS* 

1 CORINTHIANS ix. 12. 
'—Lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. 

It is impossible to contemplate either the life or writings 
of the Apostle Paul, without perceiving that the ruling 
passion of his renewed nature was a desire to glorify God 
in the salvation of men. — For the accomplishment of this . 
end there was no service which he would not perform ; no 
earthly comfort which he would not surrender ; no suffering 
which he would not endure. A charming illustration of 
his disinterestedness in the cause of his Master, occurs in 
the chapter which contains our text. He maintains, both 
from scripture and from general equity, the right which a 
minister of the gospel has to be supported by those among 
whom he labors ; and then shows how he had waived that 
right in favor of the Corinthians, that the purpose of his 
ministry might be more effectually gained. " If others be 
partakers of this poiver over yo%^^ says he, that is, ''if it 
is the privilege of ministers in general to receive their sup- 
port from those for whose benefit they labor, are not loe 
rather entitled to this privilege— we who have been instru- 
mental not only of instructing and comforting you, but of 
leading you to the profession of Christianity ? Nevertheless 
we have not used this power^ but suffer all things, lest we 
should hinder the gospel of Christ : we cheerfully submit 
to many inconveniences and deprivations, that our success 
in winning souls to Christ through the gospel, ma}^ not be. 



LECTURE HI. 49 

in anj degree hindered by the cavils of those who are al- 
ways on the alert to misrepresent and censure us." 

The text takes for granted that there may exist certain 
hindrances to the influence of the gospel. As every ge- 
nuine revival of religion is effected through the instrumen- 
tality of the gospel, it will be no misapplication of the 
passage to consider it as suggesting some of the obstacles 
which often exist in the way of a revival ; and in this 
manner I purpose to consider it at the present time. 

What then are some of the most common hindrances to 
a scriptural revival of religion ? 

I. Ignorance or misapprehension of the nature of true 
revivals. 

It is not to be concealed or denied that much has passed 
at various periods under the name of revivals, which a 
sound and intelligent piety could not fail to reprobate. 
There have been scenes in which the decorum due to 
Christian worship has been entirelj^ forgotten ; in which 
the fervor of passion has been mistaken for the fervor of 
piety ; in which the awful name of God has been invoked 
not only with irreverence, but with disgusting familiarity ; 
in which scores and even hundreds have mingled together 
in a revel of fanaticism. Now unhappily there are those, 
and I doubt not good men too, who have formed their 
opinion of revivals from these most unfavorable specimens. 
These perhaps, and no others, may have fallen under their 
observation ; and hence they conclude that whatever is 
reported to them under the name of a revival, partakes of 
the same general character with what they have witnessed ; 
and hence too they look with suspicion on any rising reli- 
gious excitement, lest it should run beyond bounds, and 
terminate in a scene of religious frenzy. 

There are others, (I here speak particularly of ministers 
of the gospel— for their influence is of course most exten- 



50 LECTURE III 

sivelv felt on this subject,) who are led to look with disfrnst 
on revivals, merely from constitutional temperament, or 
from habits of education, or from the peculiar character of 
their own religious experience : and while they are hearty 
well wishers to the cause of Christ, they are perhaps too 
sensitive to the least appearance of animal feeling. Besides, 
they not improbably have never witnessed a revival, and 
as the case may be, have been placed in circumstances 
least favorable to understanding its nature or appreciating 
its importance. What is true of one individual in this case, 
may be true of many ; and if the person concerned be a 
minister of the gospel, or even a very efficient and influen- 
tial layman, he may contribute in no small degree to form 
the opinion that prevails on this subject through a congre- 
gation, or even a more extensive community. 

Now you will readily perceive that such a state of things 
as J have here supposed, must constitute a serious obstacle 
to the introduction of a revival. There are cases indeed in 
which God is pleased to glorify his sovereignty, by mar- 
vellously pouring down his Spirit for the awakening and 
conversion of sinners, where there is no special effort on 
the part of his people to obtain such a blessing ; but it is 
the common order of his providence to lead them earnestly 
to desire, and diligently to seek, the blessing, before he be- 
stows it. But if, instead of seeking these special effusions 
of divine grace, they have an unreasonable dread of the 
excitement by v/hich such a scene may be attended ; if the 
apprehension that God may be dishonored by irreverence 
and confusion, should lead them unintentionally to check 
the genuine aspirations of pious zeal, or even the workings 
of religious anxiety, there is certainly little reason to expect 
in such circumstances a revival of religion. I doubt not 
that a case precisely such as I have supposed has some- 
times existed ; and that an honest, but inexcusably ignorant 



LECTURE II r. 51 

conscience on the part of a minister or of a church, has 
})revailed to prevent a gracious visit from the Spirit of God. 
II. Another obstacle to a revival of religion is found in 
a spirit of worldliness among professed Christians. The 
evil to which 1 here refer assumes a great variety of forms, 
according to the ruling passion of each individual, and the 
circumstances in which he may be placed. There are 
some of the professed disciples of Christ, who seem to think 
of little else than the acquisition of wealth ; who are not 
only actively engaged, as they have a right to be, to in- 
crease their worldly possessions, but who seem to allow all 
their affections to be engrossed by the pursuit ; who are 
willing to rise up early, and sit up late, and eat the bread 
of carefulness, to become rich ; and whose wealth, after it 
is acquired, serves only to gratify a spirit of avarice, or 
possibly a passion for splendor, but never ministers to the 
cause of charity. There is another class of professors 
whose hearts are set upon worldly promotion ; who seem 
to act as if the ultimate object were to reach some high 
post of honor ; who often yield to a spirit of unhallowed 
rivalry, and sometimes employ means to accomplish their 
purposes which Christian integrity scarcely know^s how to 
sanction. And there is another class still, not less numerous 
than either of the preceding, who must be set down in a 
modified sense at least, as the lovers of pleasure : far 
enough are they from encouraging or tolerating any thing 
gross or offensive to a cultivated worldly taste ; but they 
mingle unhesitatingly in scenes of amusement, from which 
.. they know before hand that every thing connected with 
religion roust be excluded ; and they talk afterw^ards with 
enthusiasm of the enjoyment they have experienced in 
such scenes ; and if the consistency of their mingling in 
them with Christian obligations happens to be called in 
question, not improbably they will defend themselves with 



52 LECTURE III. 

spirit against what they are pleased to call a whimsical or 
superstitious prejudice. There are professors of religion 
among those who take the lead in fashionable life : they 
seem to breathe freely only when they are in circles of 
gayety ; and if they were taken out of the ranks of pleasure, 
the language of their hearts, if not of their lips, would 
doubtless be, " ye have taken away my gods, and what 
have I more '?" I am willing to hope that the number to 
whom this can apply, in all its extent, is, at this day, com- 
paratively small — certainly it is becoming smaller ; but 
there are many who are ready to make a partial compro-^ 
mise with conscience on this subject ; and who, in keeping 
aloof from the extreme of too great strictness, slide too near, 
to say the least, to the confines of the opposite error. All 
these different classes, if their conduct is a fair basis for an 
opinion, have the world, in some form or other, uppermost. 
They are quite absorbed with the things which are seen 
and are temporal. Their conversation is not in heaven. 
It breathes not the spirit of heaven. It does not relate to 
the enjoyments of heaven, or the means of reaching those 
enjoyments. The world take knowledge of them, not that 
they have been with Jesus, but that like themselves, they 
love to grovel amidst the things below. 

That the evil which I have here described existing in a 
church, must be a formidable obstacle to a revival of reli- 
gion, none of us probably will doubt. Let us see for a 
moment, hoio it is so. 

The individuals concerned constitute the church, or a 
portion of the church — the very body in which, according 
to the common course of God's providence, we are to expect 
a revival to begin. But the prevalence of this worldly 
spirit of which I have spoken, is the very opposite of the 
spirit of a revival ; and can have no more communion with 
it than light with darkness. So long as it exists then, it 



LECTURE III. , 53 

must keep out that general spirituality and active devoted- 
ness to the cause of Christ in which a revival, as it respects 
Christians, especially consists ; and of course must prevent 
all that good influence, which a revival in the church would 
be fitted to exert upon the world. 

But suppose there be in the church those who are actu- 
ally revived, and who have a right estimate of their obliga- 
tions to labor and pray for the special effusions of divine 
influences, how manifest is it that this spirit of worldliness 
must, to a great extent, paralyze their efforts ? How pain- 
fully discouraging to them must it be, to behold those who 
have pledged themselves to co-operate with them in the 
great cause, turning away to the world, and virtually giving 
their sanction to courses of conduct directly adapted to 
thwart their benevolent efforts ! And how naturally will 
careless sinners, when thej^ are pressed by the tender and 
earnest expostulations of the faithful to flee from the wrath 
to come, shelter themselves in the reflection that there is 
another class of professors who estimate this matter differ- 
ently, and whose whole conduct proclaims that they con- 
sider all this talk about religion as unnecessary — not to say 
fanatical. T know that a few Christians, have, in some in- 
stances, been enabled by God's special blessing, to stem 
such a current as this : and have been permitted to witness 
the most glorious results from their persevering labors ; but 
I know too that nothing is more disheartening to a few de- 
voted disciples of Christ — nothing more directly fitted to 
render their exertions of no effect, than for the mass of pro- 
fessors around them to be buried up in the world ; to be 
found with them, at the commtinion table commemorating 
the death of Christ, bat never to go with them in any effort 
for the advancement of his cause. 

But while this spirit of worldliness mocks in a great de- 
gree the efforts of the faithful, it exerts a direct and most 

8 



54 LECTURE III. 

powerful influence upon those who are glad to find apolo- 
gies to quiet themselves in sin. I know that it is a misera- 
ble fallacy that the inconsistent lives of professed Christians 
constitute any just ground of reproach against the gospel ; 
nevertheless, it is a fact of which no one can be ignorant, 
that there are multitudes who look at the gospel only as it 
is reflected in the character of its professors ; and especially 
in their imperfections and backslidings. These are all 
strangely looked at, as if religion were responsible for them ; 
and whether it be a particular act of gross transgression, or 
a general course of devotedness to the world, it will be al- 
most sure to be turned to account in support of the comfort- 
able doctrine that religion does not make men the better, 
and therefore it is safe to let it alone altogether : or else it 
is inferred that, if religion be anything, it may be safely de- 
layed ; for it is so small a matter that it may be taken up 
at any time : or possibly the individual referring his own 
character to the low standard which he may observe among 
professors, may charitably conclude that he is already a 
Christian ; and thus by playing off upon himself the arts 
of self-deception, may lull himself into a lethargy, out of 
which he will never awake, until he is roused by the light 
of eternity both to conviction and despair. None surely will 
question that whatever exerts such an influence as this on 
the careless and ungodly, must constitute a powerful bar- 
rier to a revival of religion. 

But this worldly spirit is to be looked at moreover in the 
relation which it bears to the Spirit of God ; for God's Spirit, 
let it always be remembered, is the grand agent in every 
revival. What then do professing Christians virtually say 
to the Holy Spirit when they lose sight of their obligations, 
and open their hearts and their arms to the objects and in- 
terests of the world ? Do they thereby invite him to come, 
and be with them, and dwell with them, and to diffuse his 



LECTURE III. 55 

convincing and converting influences all around ? Or do 
they not rather proclaim their indifference, to say the least, 
to his gracioTis operations ; and sometimes even virtually 
beseech him to depart out of their coasts ? But it is the 
manner of our God to bestow his Spirit in unison with the 
desires and in answer to the prayers of his people — can we 
suppose then, that where the spirit of the world has taken 
the place of the spirit of prayer, and the enjoyments of the 
world are more thought of than the operations of the Holy 
Ghost — can we suppose, I say, that He who is jealous of 
his honor, will send down those gracious influences which 
are essential to a revival of religion ? 

Whether, therefore, we consider a worldly spirit among 
professed Christians, in its relation to themselves, to their 
fellow professors who are faithful, to the careless world, 
or to the Spirit of God, we cannot fail to perceive that it 
must stand greatly in the way of the blessing we are con- 
templating. 

III. The want of a proper sense of personal responsibility 
among professed Christians^ constitutes another obstacle to 
a revival of religion. You all know how essential it is to 
the success of any worldly enterprise, that those who en- 
gage in it should feel personally responsible in respect to 
its results. Bring together a body of men for the accom- 
plishment of any object, no matter how important, and 
there is always danger that personal obligation will be lost 
sight of; that each individual will find it far easier to do no- 
thing, or even to do wrong, than if, instead of dividing the 
responsibility with many, he was obliged literally to bear 
his own burden. And just in proportion as this spirit per- 
vades any public body, it may reasonably be expected 
either that they will accomplish nothing, or nothing to any 
good purpose. 

Now let this same spirit pervade a church, or any com- 



56 LECTURE Iir. 

mimitj of professed Christians, and you can look for nothing 
better than a similar result. True it is, as we have already 
had occasion to remark, that, in a revival of religion, there 
is much of divine agency and of divine sovereigntj'- too ; 
but there is human instrumer^tality also ; and much of 
what God does is done through his people ; and if they 
remain with their arms folded, it were unreasonable to ex- 
pect that God's work should be revived. Let each pro- 
fessor regard his own personal responsibility as merged in 
the general responsibility of the church, and the certain 
consequence will be that the church as a body will accom- 
plish nothing. Each m.ember may be ready to deplore the 
prevalence of irreligion and spiritual lethargy, and to ac- 
knowledge that something ought to be done in the way of 
reform ; but if, at the same time, he cast his eye around 
upon his fellow professors, and reflect that there are many 
to share Vv^ith him the responsibility of inaction, and that, 
as his individual exertions could effect but little, so his in- 
dividual neglect would incur but a small proportion of the 
whole blame— if he reason in this way, I say, to what 
purpose will be all his acknowledgments and all his lamen- 
tations 1 In order that God^s work may be revived, there 
must be earnest prayer ; but where is the pledge for this, 
unless his people realize their individual obligations'? 
There must also be diligent, and persevering, and self-denied 
effort ^ but where are the persons who are ready for this, 
provided each one feels that he has no personal responsi- 
bility ? Who will warn the wicked of his wicked way, 
and exhort him to turn and live 1 Who will stretch out 
his hand to reclaim the wandering Christian, or open his 
lips to stir up the sluggish one ? Who, in short, will do 
any thing that God requires to be done in order to the re- 
vival of his work, if the responsibility of the whole church 
is not regarded as the responsibilitj^ of the several individuals 



LECTURE III. 57 

who compose it ? Wherever you see a church in which 
this mistaken view of obligation generally prevails, you 
may expect to see that church asleep ; and sinners around 
asleep ; and you need not look for the breaking up of that 
slumber, until Christians have come to be weighed down 
under a sense of personal obligation. 

Moreover, let it be remembered that the evil of which I 
am speaking, is fitted to prevent the revival of God's work, 
inasmuch as it has within itself all the elements of a 
grievous backsliding. Wherever you find professors of 
religion who have little or no sense of their own obligations 
apart from the general responsibility of the church, there 
you may look with confidence for that wretched inconsist- 
ency, that careless and unedifying deportment that is fitted 
to arm sinners with a plea against the claims of religion, 
which they are always sure to use to the best advantage. 
And on the other hand, wherever you see professing 
Christians realizing that arduous duties devolve. upon them 
as individuals, and that the indifference of others can be no 
apology for their own, there you will see a spirit of self- 
denial, and humility, and active devotedness to the service 
of Christ, which will be a most impressive exemplification 
of the excellence of the gospel, and which will be fitted at 
once to awaken sinners to a conviction of its importance, 
and to attract them to a compliance with its conditions. 
In short, you will see precisely that kind of agency on the 
part of Christians which is most likely to lead to a revival, 
whether you consider it as bearing directly on the minds 
of sinners, or as securing the influence of the Spirit of God. 

IV. The toleration of gross offences in the church, is 
another serious hindrance to a revival of religion. We 
cannot suppose that the Saviour expected that the visible 
church on earth would ever be entirely pure ; or that there 
would not be in it those who were destitute of every scrip- 
s' 



58 LECTURE III. 

tural qualification for its communion ; or even those whose 
lives would be a constant contradiction of their profession, 
and a standing reproach upon his cause. He himself hath 
said that " it must needs be that offences come ;" though 
he has added with awful emphasis, "wo unto that man bj 
whom thej come." And the whole tenor of God's word 
goes to show that it is required of the church— of the whole 
body, and of each particular member — that they keep 
themselves unspotted from the world ; that they have no 
fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness ; that they 
exhibit, in all respects, that character which becomes '' a 
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a 
peculiar people." And inasmuch as there was danger 
from the imperfection and depravity of man, that the church 
would embody a greater or less amount of hypocrisy and 
corruption, it pleased the great Master to prescribe rules 
for the maintenance of her purity. Hence Christians are 
exhorted to stir up one another by putting each other in 
remembrance ; to reprove and admonish each other with 
fidelity, as occasion may require ; and in case of scandalous 
offences persisted in or not repented of, the church as a 
body is bound to cut off the offender from her communion. 
In performing this last and highest act of discipline, as well 
as in all the steps loy which she is led to it, she acts, not 
according to any arbitrary rules of her own, but under the 
authority, and agreeably to the directions of her Head. 

Nov/ it is impossible to look at the state of many 
churches, without perceiving that there is a sad disregard 
to the directions of the Lord Jesus Christ, in respect to 
offending members. It sometimes happens that professors 
of religion are detected in grossly fraudulent transactions ; 
that they grind the face of the widow and orphan ; that 
they take upon their lips the language of cursing, and even 
profanely use the awful name of God ; not to speak of what 



LECTURE III. 59 

has been more common in other days — their reeling under 
the influence of the intoxicating draught — T say it some- 
times happens that Christian professors exemplify some or 
other of these vices, and still retain a regular standing in 
the church, and perhaps never even hear the voice of re- 
proof ; especially if the individuals concerned happen to 
possess great worldly influence, and the church, as it re- 
spects temporal interests, is in some measure dependent 
upon them. But rely on it, brethren, this is an evil v^hich 
is fitted to reach vitally the spiritual interests of the church ; 
and wherever it exists, it will in all probability constitute 
an effectual obstacle to a revival of religion. 

For its influence will be felt, in the first place, by the 
church itself. The fact that it can tolerate gross oflTences 
in its members, proves that its character for spirituality is 
already low ; but the act of tolerating them must necessa- 
rily serve to depress it still more. It results from our very 
constitution and from the laws of jiabit, that to be conver- 
sant with open vice, especially where there is any tempta- 
tion to apologize for it, is fitted to lessen our estimate of its 
odiousness, and to iinpair oar sense of moral and Christian 
obligation. If a church tolerates in its members scandalous 
sins, it must know as a body that it is in the wrong ; 
nevertheless, each individual will reconcile it to his own 
conscience as well as he can ; and one way will be by 
endeavoring to find out extenuating circumstances, and 
possibly to lower a little the standard of Christian character. 
Thus it will almost of course come to pass, that that deep 
and awful sense of the evil of sin which the Christian ought 
always to cultivate, and which is essential to a high degree 
of spirituality, will no longer be found ; and in place of it 
there will be, if not an exhibition of open vice, yet a dispo- 
sition to regard iniquity in the heart, and a readiness to 
partake of other men's sins. 



60 LECTURE 111. 

Besides, the neglect of one duty always renders the 
neglect of others more easy ; not merely from the fact that 
there is an intimate connection between many of the duties 
which devolve upon Christians, but because every known 
deviation from the path of rectitude has a tendency to lower 
the tone of religious sensibility, and to give strength to the 
general propensity to evil. Let the members of a church 
do wrong in the particular of which I am speaking, and it 
will make it more easy for them to do wrong in other par- 
ticulars. A disregard to their covenant obligations in this ' 
respect, will render them less sensible of the solemnity and 
vreight cf their obligations generally : in short it will lead 
by almost certain consequence to that state of things, 
which is characterized by spiritual insensibility and death, 
and which is the exact opposite of all that belongs to a 
revival of religion. 

But the evil to which I refer is not less to be deprecated 
in its direct influence upon the world, than upon the church. 
For here is presented a professing Christian, not only 
practising vices, which, it may be, would scarcely be tole- 
rated in those who were professedly mere worldly men, but 
practising these vices, for aught that appears, under the 
sanction of the church. Wherever this flagrant inconsist- 
ency is exhibited, the scoffer looks on and laughs us to 
scorn. The decent man of the world concludes, that if the 
church can tolerate such gross evils, whatever other light 
she may diffuse around her, it cannot be the light of evan- 
gelical purity. And even those who feel the weight of 
Christian obligation, and who desire to join in the comme- 
moration of the Redeemer's death, will sometimes hesitate 
whether they can become members of a community in 
which the solemn vows of God are so much disregarded. 
Need I say that there is every thing here to lead sinners . 
to sleep on in carnal security to their dying day ? 



LECTURE III. 61 

But observe still farther, that this neglect to purify the 
church of scandalous offences, is an act of gross disobedi- 
ence to her Head ; to him who has purchased for her all 
good gifts ; and whose prerogative it is to dispense the 
influences of the Spirit. Suppose ye then that he will 
sanction a virtual contempt of his authority by pouring 
down the blessings of his grace ? Suppose ye that, if a 
church set at naught the rules which he has prescribed, 
and not only suffer sin, but the grossest sin, in her mem- 
bers, to go unreproved, he will crown all this dishonor done 
to his word, all this inconsistency and flagrant covenant- 
breaking, wath a revival of religion? No, brethren, this 
is not the manner of Him who rules King in Zion. He 
never loses sight of the infallible directory, which he has 
given to his church ; and if any portion of his church lose 
sight of it, it is at the peril of his displeasure. Disobedience 
to his commandments may be expected always to incur 
his frown ; and that frown will be manifested at least by 
withholding the influences of his grace. 

V. Another powerful hindrance to a revival of religion, 
is found in the absence of a spirit of brotherly love among 
the professed followers of Christ. 

Christianity never shines forth with more attractive love- 
liness, or addresses itself to the heart with more subduing 
energy, than when it is seen binding the disciples of Jesus 
together in the endearing bonds of a sanctified friendship. 
Let it be said of Christians as it was in other days, "Behold 
how they love one another ;" let them evince a strong re- 
gard to each other's interests, and a tender sympathy in 
each other's wo, and a ready condescension to each other's 
infirmities, and a willingness to bear each other's burdens ; 
and, rely on it, this kindly spirit will diflfuse a grateful in- 
fluence all around ; and even the enemies of religion will 
not be able to withhold from it at least the homage of their 



6^ LECTURE III. 

respect and approbation ; and there is good reason to hope 
that it may be instrumental of subduing many to the obe- 
dience of the truth. But on the other hand, let the pro- 
fessed followers of the Saviour manifest towards each other 
a jealous or contentious spirit ; let them appear more intent 
on the advancement of their own personal, or selfish, or 
party ends, than upon the promotion of each other^s edifi- 
cation and benefit; and those who see them, instead of 
taking knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus, 
will take knowledge of them that they have imbibed the 
very spirit of the world. The influence of such an example 
upon the careless, must be to lower their estimate of the 
importance of religion, and furnish them an excuse for 
neglecting to seek an interest in it. Oh how often has it 
been said by infidels and the enemies of godliness, to the 
reproach of the cause of Christ, that when Christians would 
leave ofif contending . with each other, it would be time 
enough for them to think of embracing their religion ! 

But the want of brotherly love operates to prevent a 
revival of religion, still further, as it prevents that union of 
Christian energy, in connection with which God ordinarily 
dispenses his gracious influences. It prevents a union of 
counsel. As the Saviour has committed his cause in a 
sense into the hands of his people, so he has left much as 
respects the advancement of it, to their discretion. And • 
they are bound to consult together with reference to this 
end ; and to bring their concentrated wisdom to its promo- 
tion. But if there be a spirit of alienation and discord 
among them, either they will never come together at all, 
or else their counsels will be divided, and they will do little 
else than defeat each other's purposes. The same spirit 
Will prevent a union in prayer. This is the grand means 
by which men prevail with God ; and the prospect of th^ir 
success is always much in proportion to the strength of 



LECTURE HI, / 63 

their mutual Christian affection ; — for this is a Christian 
grace ; and if it is in lively exercise, other Christian graces 
which are more immediately brought into exericse in 
prayer, such as faith, repentance and humility, will not be 
asleep : and as concentrated effort is the most powerful in 
all other cases, so it is in this — let the united prayers of 
many hearts go up to heaven for the revival of God's work, 
and they may be expected to exert an influence which will 
tell gloriously on the destinies perhaps of many sinners. 
But on the other hand, if there be notthis feeling of bro- 
therly kindness among professed Christians, even if they 
come together to pray for the out-pouring of the Spirit, 
their prayers at best will be feeble and inefficient, and their 
thoughts will not improbably be wandering, and unchris- 
tian feelings towards each other kindling, at the very time 
they are professedly interceding for the salvation of sinners. 
And the same spirit is equally inconsistent with a union of 
Christian effort ; for if they cannot take counsel together, 
if they cannot pray together, they surely cannot act to- 
gether. Who does not perceive that a spirit of mutual 
unkindness among the professed followers of Christ, thus 
carried out into action, must, if any thing, oppose a powerful 
obstacle to the revival of God's work ? 

But suppose some whom you should regard as Christians 
should adopt measures in relation to revivals, unauthorized 
by God's word, and to say the least, of very doubtful ten- 
dency, and you should decline to co-operate in such mea- 
sures, and your conduct in this respect should be considered 
as evincing the want of brotherly love — where in this case, 
would the blame really rest ? Most unquestionably not on 
you, but on those who accused you. There is nothing in 
the obligation of good will which Christians owe to each 
other, to set aside the paramount obligation which they 
owe to their Master, to take his word as the rule of their 



64 LECTURE 111. 

practice. Whatever joq conscientiously believe to be 
unscriptural, you are bound to decline at any hazard ; and 
if you do it kindly, (no matter how firmly) and the charge 
of being wanting in brotherly love is preferred against you, 
you have a right to repel it as an unchristian accusation. 
If, in such a case, evil result from the want of concentrated 
action, and the measures adopted are really unscripturql, 
the responsibility rests upon those who, by the adoption of 
such measures, (however honestly they may do it) compel 
you to stand aloof from them. You may indeed, in other 
ways, give evidence of not possessing the right spirit to- 
wards them ; and it becomes you to take heed that you do 
not give such evidence ; but the mere fact of refusing your 
co-operation certainly does not constitute it. And it would 
be well if they should inquire whether they are not at as 
great a distance from you as you are from them ; and 
whether their departure from you does not indicate as great 
a want of brotherly love as is indicated by the fact of your 
refusing to follow them? 

But it may be asked whether a spirit of brotherly love 
may not exist between Christians whose views on points 
not fundamental may differ ? I answer, yes undoubtedly ; 
it may and ought to exist among all who trust in a common 
Saviour. We may exercise this spirit even towards those 
whom we regard as holding errors, either of faith or practice, 
provided we can discover in them the faintest outline of the 
image of Christ. They may adgpt opinions in which we 
cannot harmonize, and measures in which we cannot co- 
operate, and the consequence of this may be loss of good 
influence to the cause of Christ, and perhaps positive evil 
resulting from disunion in effort ; nevertheless we may still 
recognize them as Christians, and love them as Christians, 
and cordially co-operate with them, wherever our views and 
theirs may be in harmony. The right spirit among Christ. 



LECTURE III, 65 

fans would lead them to make as little of their points of 
difference, and as much of their common ground, as they 
can ; and where they must separate, to do it with kindness 
and good will, not with bitterness and railing. 

I must not dismiss this article without saying that the Spirit 
of God who is active in awakening and renewing sinners, is 
the Spirit of peace ; he dwells not in scenes of contention ; 
and we cannot reasonably expect his presence or agency, 
where Christians, instead of being fellow workers together 
unto the kingdom of God, are alienated from each other, 
and sell themselves to the service of a party. In accord- 
ance with this sentiment, it has often been found in actual 
experience that the Spirit of God has fled before the spirit 
of strife ; and a revival of religion which proniised a glorious 
result, has been suddenly arrested by some unimpor- 
tant circumstance, which the imperfections of good men 
have magnified, till they have made it an occasion of con- 
troversy. While they are yet scarcely aware of it, their 
thoughts which had been engrossed by the salvation of 
their fellow men and the interests of Christ's kingdom, are 
intensely fastened upon another object ; and they wake up, 
when it is too late, to the appalling fact, that the work of 
grace among them has declined, and that sinners around 
are sinking back into the deep slumber of spiritual death. 

VI. The last hindrance to a revival which I shall no- 
tice, is an erroneous or defective exhibition of Christian 
truth. 

As it is through the instrumentality of the truth that God 
performs his work upon the hearts of men, it is fair to con- 
clude that just in proportion as any part of it is kept back, 
or is dispensed in a different manner from that which he 
has prescribed, it will fail of its legitimate effect. It is not 
at the option of God's ministers to select one truth from the 
Bible and omit another ; but they are required to preach 

9 



66 LECTURE III. 

the whole counsel of God ; and where they neglect to do 
this, it were unreasonable to expect a blessing. In the 
exercise of their own judgment on this subject, they may 
come to the conclusion that particular parts of divine truth 
are of little importance ; and that even some of the peculiar 
doctrines of the gospel may well enough be lightly passed 
over ; but this is an insult to the author of the Bible which 
they have good reason to expect he will punish by sending 
them a barren ministry. 

There is a way of preaching certain doctrines out of their 
proper connection, which is exceedingly unfriendly to revi- 
vals of religion . Suppose, for instance, the doctrine of God's 
sovereignty be exhibited in such a partial or insulated 
manner as to leave the sinner to infer that it is but another 
name for tyranny ; — or suppose the doctrine of a divine 
influence be preached in such a way as to authorize the 
inference that man has nothing to do in respect to his sal- 
vation, but wait to be operated upon like a mere machine ; 
or suppose the doctrine of man's apostacy be so exhibited 
as to lead sinners to deny their responsibility for their trans- 
gressions, and to take refuge from the accusations of con- 
science in the relation which they bear to the father of our 
race ; — in either of these cases, there is little probability 
that they will be converted or even awakened. It is na- 
tural for them to find excuses for remaining in a state of 
sinful security as long as they can ; and so long as they 
are furnished with such excuses as these, and by the mi- 
nisters of the gospel, there is not the least ground for ex» 
pecting that their consciences will be disturbed. The evil 
to which I refer, has, I have no doubt, often existed in all 
its extent, where the minister has actually believed all the 
truths of God's word ; and yet he has exhibited some in 
such a manner as to neutralize the power of others, and 



LECTURE III. 67 

even to prevent the legitimate effect of those he has at- 
tempted to enforce. 

There is also an unnatural mixing up of human wisdom 
with God's word, which, so far as it has any effect, must 
be unfriendly to the influence of divine truth. Let the 
naked sword of the Spirit be brought home to the con- 
sciences of men, and the effect of it mast and will be felt, 
and the anxious inquiry will be heard, and sinners, in all 
probability, will be renewed. But let the wire-drawn 
theories of metaphysicians be substituted in place of the 
simple truth ; or even let the genuine doctrines of the gospel 
be customarily exhibited in connection with the refined 
speculations of human philosophy ; and though I dare not 
say that God in his sovereignty may not bless the truth 
which is actually preached, yet I may say with confidence 
that but little effect can be reasonably expected from such 
a dispensation of the word. And the reasons are obvious ; 
for God has promised to bless nothing but his own truth ; 
and the refinements of philosophy are to the mass of hearers 
quite unintelligible. 

I may add that a want of directness in the manner of 
preaching the gospel, may prevent it from taking effect on 
the consciences and hearts of men. It is only when men 
are made to feel that the gospel comes home to their indi- 
vidual case, that they are themselves the sinners whom it 
describes, and that they need the blessings which it offers, 
— it is only then, I say, that they hear it to any important 
purpose. Suppose that its doctrines, instead of being ex- 
hibited in their practical bearings, and enforced by strong 
appeals to the conscience, are discussed merely as abstract 
propositions, and with no direct application, the consequence 
will be that, though the great truths of the Bible may be 
presented before the mind, yet they will rarely, if ever, sink 
into the heart, Sinners will bear them, and instead gf 



68 LECTURE III. 

realizing that they involve their immortal interests, will 
probably be as indifferent, as if they v^ere matters of idle 
speculation. So it has been in a multitude of instances ; 
and so, from the very nature of man, it must continue to be. 

I might mention also, as another importcint hindrance to 
a revival, the want of a simple dependence on God ; but 
as this will come up in another form in a subsequent dis- 
course, I shall waive, for the present, a distinct consideration 
of it. 

In closing this view which we have taken of the x)bstacles 
to a revival of religion, I know not, my Christian brethren, 
how we can use the subject in a single word, to better 
purpose, than to gather from it a deeper impression of our 
own responsibility. — Christians, ye who profess to desire a 
revival of religion, and to make this a commanding subject 
of your prayers, let me ask whether, in view of what you 
have now heard, you have no reason to fear that you may 
yourselves be standing in the way of the bestowment of 
the very blessing' for which you profess to plead. The 
great obstacles to the revival of God's work are no doubt 
to be sought in the church : what these obstacles are, at 
least some of the more prominent of them, you have now 
heard ; and I appeal to each of your consciences, as in the 
presence of the Searcher of the heart, whether the guilt of 
hindering God's work, in some or other of these ways, does 
not lie at your door ? Wherefore is it that the Holy Spirit 
is not now as manifestly in the midst of us, by his awake- 
ning and converting influences, as he has been in other 
days ? Is it not because you have relapsed in some mea- 
sure into a habit of worldliness ; or because you value the 
blessing less ; or because you are less united and vigorous 
in your efforts to obtain it ? Or is it for any other of the 
reasons which have now been spread before you ? Christ- 
ians, awake, one and all, to a deeper sense of your respon- 



LECTURE III. 69 

sibility. Let it not be told in heaven that God^s people on 
earth are opposing obstacles to the salvation of perishing 
men. In doing this, ye parents, ye may be keeping yoar 
own children out of heaven. In doing this, ye who have 
unconverted friends sustaining to you the tenderest earthly 
relations, you may be assisting to fix their doom in wo for 
ever. In doing this, ye Christians of every class and of 
every condition, you are opposing the interests of God's 
holy kingdom, opposing the design of the Saviour's death, 
opposing the salvation of immortal souls. But you cannot 
do this, and think what you are doing. It must be that 
you are acting incautiously. Awake then to solemn re- 
flection. Awake to earnest prayer. Awake to faithful 
and persevering action. Else there may be sinners who 
will greet you at the last day, as the stumbling blocks over 
which they fell into eternal perdition. 



9^ 



LECTURE IV. 



DIVINE AGENCY IN REVIVALS. 



HABAKKUK iii. 2. 

O Lord, revive thy work. 

There are few, if any, who acknowledge the existence 
of a God, but will be ready to admit that he has some kind 
of agency in the government of the world. What the 
precise nature or extent of this agency is, however, it were 
rash even to attempt to determine. Part of it is direct ; 
but much the greater part of it, at least so far as we are 
concerned, is mediate ; and it is not easy for us accurately 
to draw the line between the one and the other. Besides, 
he has created a vast multitude of agents, and moral agents ; 
but though he has given them the power of action, he has 
not made them independent beings ; though they act with 
perfect freedom, yet he acts in them and by them. Is not 
every man in this respect a mystery to himself? Who 
will venture to determine, in reference to his own conduct 
precisely the measure of influence that is exerted upon him 
by that Almighty agent, in whom are all the springs, not 
only of physical, but intellectual and moral being ? 

As it is admitted by all except the downiight atheist 
that God has some kind of agency in the government of 
the world, while yet there is much in respect to the nature 
and extent of that agency which we cannot understand, so 
also it is admitted by all Christians that he exerts an in- 



LECTURE IV. 71 

fluence in the sanctification of men, though they do not 
pretend exactly to define the character of that mfluence. 
On the same general principle, those who believe in revivals 
of religion, believe that God is the grand agent in producing 
them ; though they are well aware that here, as in other 
departments of his agency, he " moves in a mysterious 
way ;" and that this is no field for a roving fancy or rash 
speculation. Something however may be known on this 
subject from God's word ; and on a matter of such deep 
and awful concern, while we are to take heed that we 
keep fairly within our own province, it surely becomes us 
to gather up with devout attention even the most obscure 
of the divine intimations. I design therefore in this dis- 
course, to bring this subject before you ; and keeping an 
eye on the law and the testimony in connection with the 
unequivocal dictates of experience, reverently to inquire 
respecting the agency of God in revivals of religion. 
The passage which I have read to you, taken from the 
prayer of Habakkuk, may be a fit introduction to this 
subject , for though the petition is made up of five words — 
** O Lord, revive thy work" — it recognises the fact of God's 
agency in a revival in two different ways : — it declares 
that the work is God's ; and it is the direct expression of a 
desire that he would revive it. 

This agency may be advantageously considered under 
two distinct heads : — 

I. The agency of Providence. 

II. The agency of the Spirit. 

I. Of Providence. It is one of the most simple deduc- 
tions fiom the perfections of God, that he orders all things 
according to the counsel of his own will ; in other words, 
that he has a plan which includes all events ; which ex- 
tends even to the numbering of hairs and the falling of 
sparrows. Of course,nothing ever occurs to an individual, 



72 LECTURE IV. 

but is designed to answer some purpose in the chain of 
events ; and it is reasonable to consider the less important 
events as ordered in reference to the more important ; — the 
one sustaining to the other the relation of means to an end ; 
though it must be acknowledged that if particular events 
are viewed in relation to the whole system of Providence, 
our views are too limited to enable us to judge of their com- 
parative importance. Now it will readily be acknowledged 
that no event ever occurs in the life of an individual so im- 
portant to him as his conversion ; the change of his character 
— from being a subject of pollution to, a subject of holiness ; 
and of his destiny — from being an heir of misery to an heir 
of glory. It is reasonable therefore to suppose that many 
events in his life which, taken hy themselves, may seem of 
little moment, may nevertheless be designed by Providence 
to lead to this wonderful change. And if I mistake not, 
every Christian, especially every one whose first experience 
has been strongly marked, will find, on review,that he was 
led to the fountain of atoning blood by a path which he 
knew not ; that God was working by circumstances of 
which, at the time, he himself made no account, to prepare 
him to come out of darkness into marvellous light. Per- 
haps his serious impressions originated in what seemed an 
accidental conversation with some friend ; — a conversation 
which he did not court, and which would have been avoided 
if he had happened to walk on the opposite side of the 
street ; or perhaps he was brought to reflection by some 
discourse which he had gone to listen to from mere curi- 
osity ; or possibly some circumstance may have occurred 
where he would least have looked for it — in connection 
with his amusements or his excesses, which God has over- 
ruled as a means of stopping him in his career of guilt. 
I doubt not that there are those among you, Christian 



LECTURE IV. 73 

friends, who may, at this moment, be going back in your 
thoughts to some event which, at the time, you scarcely 
noticed, as having marked the era of your first setting your 
face towards heaven ; and now that you can look at that 
event in some of its more remote influences, you are reddy 
in devout thanksgiving to the providence of God, to con- 
nect with it all the joy that you have in believing in Jesus, 
and in the hope of hereafter seeing him as he is. 

Now if it is right to consider God as ordering the events 
of his providence with reference to the conversion of a single 
individual, it is certainly safe to form the same conclusion in 
respect to the conversion of many individuals ; in other words, 
in regard to a revival of rehgion. There may be obstacles 
to be removed which seem to lie beyond all human power ; 
but these God not unfrequently puts aside by an agency so 
silent and simple that men do not even observe it ; while in 
other cases, though more rarely, he accomplishes the 
same end by some signal dispensation which almost bears 
the aspect of a miracle ; — waking up even the careless 
mind to the reflection, *' What hath God wrought !" Some- 
times by the death of an individual, there is an organized 
and efficient opposition to the gospel put down ; and some- 
times by an individual changing his residence, there is a 
large accession of religious influence to some community ; 
and the means of grace are multiplied ; and a revival of 
religion succeeds. There may be some alarming dispensa- 
tion of providence to arouse many simultaneously to reflec- 
tion ; or some one whose influence is extensively felt may 
become the subject of renewing grace, and may be a kind 
of central point from which good influences shall extend in 
every direction. It is fully believed that, in all ordinary 
cases in which a revival takes place, it would be no diffi- 
cult thing to mark a distinct providential agency prepara- 
tory to it ; and especially where the cause of religion has 



74 LECTURE IV. 

greatly languished, and the means of religion are but par- 
tially enjoyed, this agency is sometimes so manifest as to 
constitute of itself a distinct and solemn call to sinners to 
awake out of sleep. But 

II. There is also an agency of the Spirit. This we 
proceed now to contemplate. 

Of those general facts in relation to this subject, which 
are clearly matter of revelation and experience, we may 
mention the following : — 

1. The fact that the Spirit actually does operate in the 
whole work of marl's sanctification. Hear the Spirit's own 
testimony on this subject : — '' Not by works of righteousness 
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved 
us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the 
Holy Ghost." "But as many as received him, to them 
gave he power to become the sons of God ; even to them 
that believe on his name. Which were born not of blood, 
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 
" God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation 
through the sanctification of the Holy Ghost." " A new 
heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put 
within you : and I will take away the stony heart out of 
your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." 

But beside many passages of scripture, of which those now 
recited are a specimen, in which the doctrine of the Spirit^s 
agency is clearly taught, there are meiny facts recorded in the 
Bible, by which the same truth is abundantly confirmed. 
How will you account for it, for instance, that the preaching 
of the Son of God produced so little effect, and the preaching 
of his apostles so much? How was it that m.ultitudes were 
aroused, and pricked to the heart, and actually converted 
under the preaching of Peter, who had sat with indiffer- 
ence, or rather been excited to opposition, under the preach- 
ing of Him who spake as never man spake ? Whence was 



LECTURE IV. 75 

it that the jailer, who had doubtless often heard the Apostle 
before the night of his conversion, remained indifferent till 
that time ; and then evinced so much anxiety and alarm, 
and finally a disposition to own Jesus as his Saviour and 
his Master, and to walk in his steps ? And in general, 
whence was it that such marvellous success attended the 
ministry of the apostles; that by preaching a doctrine which 
enlisted against it the strongest prejudices and worst pas- 
sions of the heart, they undermined the thrones of Pagan- 
ism, and caused tens of thousands to gather around the 
standard of the cross ? Here is a problem that has always 
been too hard for the jeering infidel to solve ; and which 
most infidels have manifested little disposition to encounter. 
There is no solution of it except in the fact that God works 
in the hearts of men by his Spirit ; and that he dispenses it 
in the sovereignty of his wisdom. 

2. Another fact in relation to this subject, of which we 
have the fullest evidence, is, that^/ie Spirit^ in performing 
his work upon the hearts of men^ has respect to the laws of 
their moral nature. 

God has made man what he is — a voluntary, accountable 
agent. He has given him the power not only of distin- 
guishing, but of choosing between good and evil, has con- 
stituted him in such a manner that he is susceptible of the 
influence of motives ; and every one must perceive that this 
involves responsibility. Inasmuch then, as this constitution 
of our nature is derived from God, it were to be expected 
that whatever influence he should exert upon the mind 
would be consistent with it ; in other words, that he should 
not contradict his own works. It would do little honor to 
infinite wisdom to suppose that he should have formed man 
with such a nature that he could not have access to it, 
without violating the laws he had himself established. 

But the conclusion to which we should arrive on this 



76 LECTURE IV, 

subject from the perfections of God, is abundantly corrobo- 
rated by the testimony of his word. Says Joshua to the people 
of Israel, " Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether 
the gods which your fathers served, that were on the other side 
of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye 
dwell ; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 
And again, our Saviour says, " Mary hath c/io5e^ that good 
part which shall not be taken away from her.'' Indeed, 
what are all the exhortations, and promises, and threaten- 
ings, of the Bible, but a mass of evidence that God operates 
upon the hearts of men as moral agents ; that he takes for 
granted that they are to be active in the work of their sancti- 
fication, notwithstanding he is himself the efficient cause of 
it ? Admit that men are operated upon as mere machines^ 
and then read any part of the Bible, and see what meaning • 
you can find in it. 

And I may add that the experience of Christians on this 
subject is in exact correspondence with the teachings of 
God's word. Let the Christian who is just entering heaven, 
give himself to the work of reviewing his own experience ; 
let him look back to the hoar when he first trembled under 
a conviction of his guilt ; or to the time when he first felt 
the preciousness of the Saviour's love ; or to his subsequent 
conflicts with corruption and temptation ; or to any or 
every part of his progress in holiness ; and while he will 
acknowledge with gratitude and delight that the Spirit 
has been active in it all, and deserves all the glory, he will 
be completely satisfied that there has never been the least 
interruption of his moral agency. He will find that he has 
been working out his salvation with fear and trembling, 
while God has wrought within him both to will and to do. 

3. Another fact on this subject, which is ascertained to 
us by the best evidence, is, that the Spirit operates by 
means of the truth. It is partly in reference to this that 



LECTURE IV. 77 

He is called " the Spirit of truth ;" and so also men are 
said to be " sanctified by the truth ," — not by the truth in- 
dependently of the Spirit, but by the Spirit operating by 
means of the truth. Sometimes the agent alone is men- 
tioned, and sometimes the instrument ; but where one is 
spoken of, the other is always implied. 

In the work which the Holy Spirit performs upon the 
heart, he makes use of every part of the great system of 
truth which God has revealed. But particular truths are 
adapted to accomplish particular ends : some are especially 
fitted to alarm the conscience : others to bring peace and 
joy into the soul : others to quicken and encourage to a 
course of vigorous activity and Christian self-denial : and 
the Spirit, in different parts of his work, uses these various 
truths discriminatingly, according to the particular end he 
may design to accomplish. When we say, however, that 
God's truth is adapted to the work of man's sanctification, 
we must beware of the idea that the efficacy resides ulti- 
mately in the instrument : it is the great agent who pro- 
duces the effect ; and the truth wielded by any other power 
than his, would never sanctify a single heart, even though 
it might be preached to every creature. It is indeed a 
well adapted — a divinely adapted instrument ; but it is an 
instrument still ; and it is only through God that it is 
mighty to the pulling down of strong holds. 

We will contemplate for a moment the work of the Holy 
Spirit in some of its distinct parts : in conviction of sin ; 
conversion to God ; and subsequent progress in the divine 
life. 

1. The Spirit is active in convincing men of sin. Our 
Saviour distinctly recognised this among the great purposes 
for which the Spirit was to be sent into the world. " And 
when he is come," said he, " he will reprove the world of 
sin." This office he performed in the case of the three 

10 



78 LECTURE IV. 

thousand who were pricked in the heart on the day of 
Pentecost, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, 
" Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" A similar effect 
was produced in the case of the jailer, who, at midnight, 
called for a light, and sprang into the prison, and came 
trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and said, 
^' Sns, what must I do to be saved ?" And the same thing 
substantially occurs in the case of every awakened sinner. 
And the agent to whom this work is, in every instance, to 
be ultimately referred is the Holy Spirit. This is always 
the first step to the effectual application of the benefits of 
Christ's death • though there are multitudes who experience 
this, and perish notwithstanding. 

That faculty or principle of the soul which is especially 
the subject of the Spirit's operation in conviction of sin, is 
the conscience. It is this which recognises the difference 
between right and wrong, and passes a sentence of appro- 
bation or disapprobation on our own actions. This, there- 
fore, is the appropriate principle to be brought into exercise 
in the work of conviction ; and to this the Spirit always 
addresses itself. Hence conviction is uniformly attended 
by remorse ; and not unfrequently so pungent as to amount 
to agony. Hence, too, convinced sinners are said to be 
" pricked in the heart ;" — an expression which denotes the 
most excruciating anguish. 

The kind of truth which the Spirit uses in accomplishing 
this work is primarily the law of God. " By the law," 
says the Apostle, " is the knowledge of sin." God's law 
is nothing else than a transcript of his moral character ; 
requiring all his creatures . to be holy, according to their 
measure, as he is holy. It is the eternal standard of right ; 
and every departure from it is sin ; — the abominable thing 
which God hateth. But if men are practically ignorant 
of this standard, they will of course be in the sam.e degree 



LECTURE IV. 79 

ignorant of their sins ; and it is only in proportion as the 
law is brought home to them in its high and awful bearings, 
that they can have any conviction of sin. And the more 
they view the law in its amazing extent, as reaching to 
the thoughts, affections, purposes — as taking cognizance 
of the whole inner man ; and during every period of their 
existence ; — the more they view it in connection with the 
awful attributes of Jehovah — especially his omnipotence, 
his omniscience, his holiness, and his truth ; so much the 
more black and dreadful appears the guilt of sin ; so much 
the more numerous and appalling their own personal 
transgressions. I say, then, that the law is the great in- 
strument which the Spirit of God wields in producing con- 
viction of sin. Let that never be brought in contact with 
the conscience, and the sinner would go slumbering to his 
grave. If we might suppose the case that it should be 
kept out of view in the next world, the hell which the 
Bible describes could not exist. 

There are indeed other parts of divine truth besides the 
law, which the Spirit uses in the work of conviction ; but 
they are subordinate to this. For instance, the great doc- 
trine of Christ crucified for the sins of men, has often a 
powerful influence in convincing men of sin ;— for herein 
the honors of the law are maintained ; and the argument 
which the Spirit uses with the sinner's conscience is, that 
if sin be such a tremendous evil as to demand for its expia- 
tion the death of the Son of God, then repentance of sin 
must be an immediate and imperative duty. And I doubt 
not that many a sinner, while he has yet been blind to the 
glories of redemption, has derived his deepest conviction of 
sin from the views which he has taken of this doctrine ; 
and the question has forced itself upon his conscience with 
fearful urgency, " If these things be done in the green treej 
what shall be done in the dry ?" 



80 LECTURE IV. 

The same is true of various other parts of divine truth : 
ihe Spirit in his gracious sovereignty uses them to convince 
men of sin ; and sometimes even those truths which might 
seem to us least adapted to that end; but the influence 
which they exert is indirect ; and uniformly terminates in 
bringing God's law to bear upon the conscience. 

2. There is also an agency of the Spirit in the work of 
conversion; — in the turning of the soul from sin to holi- 
ness. This is what is referred to by our Saviour when he 
says, '^Except a man be born of the Spirit he cannot see 
the kingdom of God." The work which the Spirit here 
performs is the renovation of man's moral nature ; changing 
an enemy of God into a friend of God ; — and if we have a 
right to compare the different kinds of influence which he 
exerts upon the children of men with each other, perhaps 
it is a reasonable conclusion that more of his omnipotence 
is exerted here than in any other part of his work. What 
is done in conviction is only a preparation for this : what is 
done in sanctification is but a continuation of it. As the 
act of conversion may be considered in some respects the 
most decisive in its bearing upon man's destiny, so, we may 
suppose that it brings him more closely into communion 
with the almighty energies of God's Spirit than any 
other. 

The Spirit, in his converting influences, instead of bring- 
ing the truth to bear directly upon the conscience, addresses 
it to the will and the affections. The will, or the 
faculty by which we 'determine our actions, has naturally 
a wrong direction ; and in regeneration it is set right : the 
affections are naturally placed upon forbidden objects; and 
in regeneration they are recalled to objects which are 
worthy of them. Or to avoid all appearance of philoso- 
phical distinctions, the soul that has hitherto loved and 



LECTURE IV. ^1 

chosen sin, experiences a change, in consequence of wJiich 
it will hereafter love and choose holiness. Hence, the 
scripture speaks of it as a change of heart, by which we 
mean in common language, a change of disposition. Man 
in his natural state is said to possess ''a heart of stone ;" in 
his renewed state " a heart of flesh." or ''anew heart. '^ 
As this then is the part of his nature in which the change 
primarily takes place, to this we must suppose the agency 
of the Spirit in performing the change, is especially 
directed. 

And as the work of conversion in performed on a different 
department of man's nature from that of conviction, so also 
it is accomplished through the instrumentality of a different 
part of the system of divine truth. It is not only of the 
incorruptible seed of the word of God that men are born to 
newness of hfe, but it is by the gospel, in distinction from 
the law, that this work is effected. It was the law that 
made the jailer tremble : it was the gospel that brought 
peace and gladness to his soul. It was the law that 
caused the three thousand to be pricked in the heart ; it 
was the gospel — Christ crucified — that melted them into 
contrition, and transformed them into disciples. And you 
see the reason of it — the law speaks terror, and nothing 
else ; it points to a most eventful trial ; and anticipates the 
eternal wrath of God. The gospel proclaims good news. 
It tells the sinner that his case though deplorable, is not 
desperate ; and hope encourages exertion. It holds up 
the glorious truth, that through the merits of Christ's 
atoning blood, there is eternal life ; and the sinner, through 
the agency of the Holy Ghost, seizes hold of this truth as 
of life from the dead ; and in view of it, he melts down, in 
humble submission, at the foot of the cross. I do not mean 
that the gospel, in its more particular, and even less im- 
portant doctrines, may not sometimes be directly instru- 

10^ 



82 LECTURE IV. 

mental of producing this change ; though certain it is, that 
wherever it takes place, it is the gospel, in distinction from 
the law, that accomplishes it. As it is not a common thing, 
to say the least, for men to know, with absolute assurance, 
the precise period of their conversion, so thej cannot ordi- 
narily determine what particular part of divine truth was 
then directly before the mind ; but if it were possible to 
ascertain, they would doubtless always find that it had a 
more or less intimate connection with the cross of Christ. 

3. There is moreover an agency of the Spirit in the 
whole progress of the soul in holiness. Says the Apostle 
to the Thessalonians, " We are bound to give thanks al- 
way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because 
God hath from the beginning, chosen you to salvation, 
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 
The regenerating act leaves the soul far from< a state of 
perfect holiness. The general current of its desires and 
purposes is changed ; but notwithstanding this change, 
the Christian finds a law in his members warring against 
the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the 
law of sin. Hence there is much to be done subsequently 
to his regeneration, to prepare him for heaven ; and in 
every part of this work, the Spirit has a more or less direct 
agency. Sometimes he is to be reclaimed from a course 
of backsliding ; sometimes to be fortified against the influ- 
ence of temptation; sometimes to be stimulated to great 
and arduous enterprises ; now there is to be enkindled a 
spirit of elevated devotion, and now a spirit of stirring ac- 
tivity ; but in all this, and in all which belongs to the work 
of sanctification, a divine influence is to be exerted. All 
the various powers of the soul — the conscience — the will — 
the affections — the whole spiritual man — are to be brought 
into exercise, according to the particular end which the 
Spirit may design to accomplish. And so also every part 



LECTURE IV. g3 

of revealed truth — the law and the gospel, and each par- 
ticular doctrine of the gospel, are used bj this divine agent 
in carrying forward his work. And thus the whole man 
becomes more and more pure, until he reaches at last the 
fulness of the stature of a perfect person in Christ. 

I have thus given you what I suppose to be a scriptural 
view of the agency of the Spirit, in respect to a single indi- 
vidual, who finally reaches heaven. Now what I have 
here described in respect to a single case, takes place, in 
a revival of religion, in many cases. Many sinners are 
the subjects of conviction and conversion ; and God's 
people are advanced in the spiritual life. Nevertheless 
there are some points of view in which the divine agency 
in a revival deserves to be more particularly contem- 
plated. 

In every revival we are distinctly to recognise the sove- 
reignty of God. As this is displayed in the hifluence by 
which a single soul is converted, it certainly is not less 
manifest in those copious showers of influence by which 
hundreds are converted. He who causes it to rain on one 
city and not on another, directs the motion of those clou'ds 
in the spiritual world from which descend the blessings of 
reviving and quickening grace. " The wind bloweth, 
where it listeth ; and thou hear est the sound thereof; but 
canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth. So 
is every one that is born of the spirit." Aad so too is every 
revival of religion. 

There is one grand principle of our nature, which the 
Holy Spirit makes great use of in a revival, that is not 
brought into exercise in a single conversion ; and which 
perhaps more than any thing else, distinguishes the cha- 
racter of his agency in two cases — I mean the principle of 
sympathy. The operation of this principle is familiar to us 
all in the common intercourse of life. You all know what 



84 LECTURE IV. 

it is to have a fellow-feeling ;— to be affected by the affec- 
tion of another with feelings correspondent with those you 
witness in him. "Who, for instance, has not been made to 
feel joyful, merely by coming in contact with those whose 
countenances have worn the aspect, and whose conversa- 
tion has breathed the spirit of joy ? And who has not felt 
his heart melting with sorrow, and even his eyes suffused 
with tears, merely from being cast into a scene in which 
there were bleeding hearts and streaming eyes ? Now 
this principle with which we are all so perfectly familiar 
in common life, is brought into exercise with great effect 
in a revival of religion. A brother, for instance, sees a 
sister, or a husba,nd a wife, or a parent a child, weeping 
under a sense of sin ; and inquiring^ it may be with agony, 
in respect to her salvation. That brother, or husband, or 
parent, must be destitute of all natural sensibility, not to be 
moved by such a spectacle. But the first exercise of the 
soul in such a case will not be repentance-— it will not be 
conviction ; but it will be simply a fellow-feeling for a be- 
loved friend in distress. Now it is acknowledged that 
there is no natural affinity between this state of mind and 
rehgion ; nevertheless, the former constitutes a happy 
preparation for the latter, and often the first step towards it. 
For how natural for the sinner to inquire at such a moment, 
whether there be any adequate cause for this distress ; and 
how probably will the answer to this inquiry bring up the 
solemnities of eternity before the mind, and set the con- 
science at work ; and then the dream of thoughtlessness 
is interrupted, and the cord which binds the soul to the 
world is loosed ; and having advanced so far, there is reason 
to hope that he will hold on his way, till he comes into the 
marvellous liberty of a child of God. The same principle 
is often brought into exercise in the worshipping assembly. 
Let there be that deep and awful solemnity pervading a 



LECTURE IV, 85 

congregation that is induced by the special presence of the 
Spirit of God ; let there be many countenances and many 
eyes that shall betray a deep, though silent anxiety; and 
believe me, every anxious countenance^ every fixed eye^ 
will preach; and it will utter a mysterious language that 
will not improbably waken up the sensibilities of the care- 
less sinner ; and this will naturally serve to open his ear 
to God's truth j and thus conviction may take the place 
of sympathy, and in the train of that may soon follow the 
clean heart and the right spirit. I know^ brethren, that 
this is a true description of the manner in which many a 
sinner has passed from thoughtlessness to alarm; from 
darkness to light. And I doubt not that the same principle 
is often brought into exercise in advancing the believer's 
sanctification ; especially in rousing him from spiritual 
sloth, and in stirring him up to a higher tone both of feeling 
and of action < 

Let no one dream that there is any thing in this, which 
casts suspicion on the reality^ or derogates from the dignity 
of a revival of religion. I repeat, mere sympathy is not 
religion ; though no doubt it is sometimes mistaken for it. 
It has no one of all the ingredients of religion ; and may 
exist, and does exist, in connection with rank hatred and bit- 
ter opposition to the gospel. Nevertheless, it is an original 
principle of human nature, which, when operating on other 
subjects than that of religion, is considered amiable and even 
noble ; and wherefore is it that, in respect to this, it degene- 
rates into a pitiable weakness ? It is manifestly adapted to 
bring men to a sense of religion ; and why should not the 
Holy Ghost use it for the accomplishment of that end ? 

There is yet another influence which the Spirit renders 
subservient to sustaining a revival of religion — I mean that 
of example. There is no department of human action in 
which this influence is not powerfully realized ; and there 



86 LECTURE IV. 

is as little mystery in respect to the manner in which it ope- 
rates in a revival as any where else. Here are individuals 
becoming impressed with religious truth, and inquiring what 
they shall do to be saved, and actually believing on the 
Lord Jesus Christ that they may be saved. How natural 
that this fact should speak to the consciences of others, not 
merely through sympathj^, but through the understanding, 
and thus put them upon a course which will terminate in gen- 
uine conversion. Besides, every one knows that one of the 
most formidable obstacles to entering on a religious life i& a 
false shame — a dread of being singular ; but in a revival the 
current of example is in favor of religion ; and the anxious 
sinner has nothing to fear from the shafts of ridicule being 
pointed at him ; — or if they are pointed at him, they fall 
powerless at his feet. It is not uncommon on these occa- 
sions for men of great worldly influence and distinction to 
come out from the w^orld, and openly proclaim themselves 
on the Lord's side ; and every such event almost of course 
makes an impression upon many minds ; and others in the 
same walks of life, who have been accustomed perhaps to 
regard religion as a matter chiefly for the lower classes, are 
waked up to serious reflection ; and begin to conclude that 
it is at least worth while to inquire whether that which re- 
ceives the sanction of the intelligent, and the learned, and 
those who are best qualified to judge, may not be a serious, 
reality. And this may lead to examination ; and examina- 
tion to conviction ; and conviction to an actual renovation of 
heart. The history of revivals records many facts, like the 
cases which I have here supposed ; and I should hazard little 
if I were to say that there are probably individuals before me 
whose hearts are full of Christian joy and hope, who refer 
their first religious impressions to the influence of example 
in the midst of some revival of religion. I hardlj^ need add 
that there is no natural connection between such an influ- 



LECTURE IV. g7 

ence and true piety ; nevertheless the Holy Spirit renders 
the one subservient to the production and advancement of 
the other. 

Moreover, the Spirit of God operates during a revival to 
bring into exercise a far more vigorous and efficient human 
instrumentality J than on ordinary occasions. He impresses 
ministers more deeply with their responsibility, causing 
them to bring home the truth to the consciences of their 
hearers with unwonted earnestness. He renders Christians 
more circumspect, more active, more earnest -ini. prayer, 
more ready to warn the sinner of his wicked way, more de- 
sirous of abounding in all respects in the work of the 
Lord. In short, he causes the whole system of means to 
be wielded with a greatly increased energy. The truth of 
God bursts forth upon the conscience of the sinner on every 
side ; and the reason is that God is making his ministers 
and his people feel their responsibility, by impressing them 
more deeply with their obligations to Christ, and by carry- 
ing them forward to the solemnities of the judgment day. 

With two inferences we shall conclude the discourse. 

I. We may see, in view of our subject, that it is possible 
to attribute to the Spirit too little agency^ and too much^ in 
revivals of religion. 

There are those, on the one hand, who attribute too 
little to this Almighty Agent. They do this by the man- 
ner in which they speak of revivals — as if they were pro- 
duced altogether by man ; and if the Spirit is mentioned at 
all, it is in a way that would indicate that we had little to 
do with it. They do this by the measures which they 
adopt in carrying forw^ard revivals ; substituting human 
inventions for divinely appointed means ; and urging the 
doctrine of moral agency not in connection with that of a 
divine influence, but in a great degree to the exclusion of it. 
On the other hand, there are those who attribute too m.uch 



88 LECTURE IV, 

to the agency of the Spirit. Thej do this who speak of 
revivals, as if God only was at work in them, and man a 
mere passive recipient of impressions. They do this who 
do not exert themselves to the utmost to co-operate with 
God, on the ground that a revival is a mere matter of 
sovereignty, and that God is able to carry forward his own 
work independently of means. They do this also who 
speak of every thing that may happen to be connected 
with a revival as the immediate effect of divine influence ; 
— who set down to the account of the Holy Spirit peculiar 
tones of voice, and expressions of countenance, and violent 
gestures, which are supposed to indicate deep and strong 
feeling ; and any thing that is harsh, or boisterous, or in 
any respect irregular, even though it may seem to be as- 
sociated with the greatest imaginable fervor. These things 
no doubt majT" all exist in connection with a true revival ; 
but they are the work of men — not the work of God. 

The two evils of which I have spoken may possibly co- 
exist in respect to the same persons ; that is, the same in- 
dividuals may attribute too much to the Spirit in some 
respects, and too little in others. His agency in carrying 
forward the great work may practically be recognised but 
little ; and yet he may be familiarly spoken of as being 
present in particular scenes, and as prompting to particular 
actions, which he could not fail to disown. Brethren, we 
honor the Holy Spirit most, when we give him precisely 
the place which he claims ; when we recognise him as the 
efficient author of conviction, conversion, and sanctification ; 
but he is offended when we undertake to palm upon him 
what we ought to take with shame to ourselves. 

2. Our subject teaches us that ifive would labor success- 
fully in the cause of revivals^ ive must labor with a spirit of 
dependence on God. 

This is the spirit that is most likely to bring success to 



our labors, because it is most likely to render Us active and 
faithful. He who depends upon his own strength, has but 
a feeble motive to exertion ; for his strength is but weak- 
ness ; and when viewed in relation to the object to be ac- 
complished — the conversion of the soul- — it is the weakness 
of an infant. But he who depends on God has the most 
powerful motive for action that can be presented ; for he 
realizes that the almighty and everlasting arm is round 
about him in his work ; and this is the only pledge of suc- 
cess that he needs. With this encouragement he is pre- 
pared to labor vigorously and perseveringly ; to labor in 
the face of appalling obstacles ; to labor even in the darkest 
times ; for he knows that God^s grace is sufficient to render 
the feeblest of his efforts mighty to the pulling down of 
strong holds. 

Besides, it is a spirit of dependence that honors God. 
In it there is a practical acknowledgment of our own 
weakness, and of his greatness and goodness, of his ability 
and readiness to help. In the exercise of it, man sinks 
down before the throne as nothing, and with the confidence 
of a child, lifts up his heart to God as all in all. And them 
that honor him in the exercise of this spirit, he will honor 
by sending down in answer to their prayers the blessings 
of his grace. And on this subject I appeal with confidence 
to facts. Wherever God's people have been truly humbled 
before him, and have been brought deeply to feel their own 
impotence, and have been willing to be used as mere in- 
struments, and to let him have all the glory, there you will 
find that a rich blessing has usually been bestowed ; and 
on the other hand, where they have had little sense of their 
need of divine influence, and have addressed themselves to 
their work with a spirit of self-confidence, howej^er diligently 
they may have labored, they have ordinarily been compel- 
led to witness barrenness and lethargy in the train of their 

11 



90 LECTURE IV. 

efforts ; or, if there has been the appearance of a revival, 
there is much reason to apprehend that there is in it little 
of the presence or power of God. 

"What then, Christians, is the great practical inference 
which you ought to deduce in respect to yourselves 1 It 
is that in all your labors for the revival of God's work in 
the midst of you, or for the promotion of the general cause 
of revivals, you should feel more deeply that the Lord Je- 
hovah is your strength. Every effort that you make in 
the spirit of self-confidence, is an insult to the Holy Ghost. 
Go forth then, leaning upon the Almighty arm. Go and 
do your duty to each other and to the world ; go and in- 
struct the ignorant, and guide the inquiring, and put forth 
every effort you can to bring souls to Jesus ; but remember 
after all, and remember for your rich encouragement, the 
doctrine of sovereign grace. Yes, even in the moments 
when you feel the weakest, and when your work seems 
the greatest, and when obstacles the most appalling rise 
up in your path, and when your heart is driven from every 
other source of hope, even then, remember the doctrine of 
sovereign grace, and hold on your way laboring, yet 
rejoicing. 



LECTURE V 



GENERAL MEANS OF PRODUCING AND PROMOTING REVIVALS. 



PHILIPPIANSi. 27. 

'^tStriving together for the faith of the gospel 

The Apostle uniformly manifested a cordial regard and 
complacency towards all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. 
But there were reasons why the Philippian Christians 
occupied a higher place in his affections than many others. 
It was through his instrumentality that they had been 
converted to the faith of the gospel. They had manifested 
a faithful adherence to their principles in the midst of much 
opposition. They seem moreover to have given some 
special evidences of sympathy and attachment towards 
him, during his imprisonment at Rome — such as became 
the relation they sustained to him as his own children in 
the gospel. Hence it is not strange that he should have 
honored them with an epistle ; or that it should have been 
characterized by expressions of most affectionate regard, 
and of the deepest concern for their spiritual v/elfare. At 
the date of the epistle, he was still confined in prison ; and 
it does not appear that the time of his release was then 
fixed : hence, in exhorting them to fidelity and perseverance, 
he alludes to the fact that he might or might not make 
them a visit ; but in either case, he earnestly desires that 
they may continue steadfastly engaged in the cause to 
which they were devoted. '^ Only let your conversation 
be as becometh the gospel of Christ : that whether I come 



^2 tECTURE V. 

14 

and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, 
that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving 
iogether for the faith of the gospeL^^ 

The direction contained in the text may properly be 
considered as pointing in a general manner to the duty of 
Christians in relation to a revival of religion. In a pre- 
ceding discourse, we have contemplated the agency of God 
in a revival : in the present we are to contemplate the 
agency of man ; in other words, we are to consider some 
of the more prominent means in the hands of the churchy 
which the Holy Spirit honors in reviving, and sustainingj, 
and advancing his work. 

These means may be considered as of two kinds : those 
which are expressly prescribed by God, and those which 
are adopted by men professedly in accordance with th© 
spirit of the gospel. 

In respect to the former, viz. the instituted means of grace 
- — we nmst suppose that they are fitted to accomplish their 
end in the best possible manner. He who devised them,^ 
made the mind, and is perfectly acquainted with all its 
moral disorders, and knows by what means it can be best 
approached, and what kind of instrumentality is most in 
accordance with its constitution. Unquestionably then, in 
all our efforts to cuie the disorders of the mind, or what is 
the same thing, to produce or promote a revival of religion,,, 
we are to depend chiefly on the means which God himself 
has appointed ; and we are to expect the greatest and best 
effect from them, w^hen they are used in their greatest 
simplicity — precisely in the manner in which God designed 
they should be used. It is possible, no doubt, that a divine 
institution may be so perverted, that nothing more than the 
form of it shall be retained ; and it is possible that it may 
be so incumbered with human additions that, though the 
substance of it may be said in some sense to remain, yet it 



LECTURE V. 93 

loses in a great degree its life and power. In opposition to 
this, we are to retain both the substance and the form of 
God's institutions : let his word be preached ; let his worship 
be celebrated ; let all the appointed means of grace be 
used, exactly in concordance with his own directions, and' 
then we may expect, with the greatest confidence, that he 
will honor them with his blessing. 

But God has not limited his people, in their efforts to 
advance his cause, to what may properly be called divine 
institutions : he permits them to adopt means to a certain 
extent of their own devising ; though, in exercising this 
liberty, they are to take heed that they depart not at all 
from the spirit of the gospel. In all the departments of 
benevolent action, the invention of man is, in a greater or 
less degree, laid under contribution : the great system of 
moral machinery which has been put in operation in these 
latter days for evangelizing the world, is to be attributed 
immediately to the wisdom and energy of the church ; and 
every one knows that this has been crowned with the 
special favor of God. In the same manner, he permits his 
children to exercise their own judgment, to a certain extent, 
in the adoption of measures for carrying forw^ard a revival ; 
and if those measures are in accordance with the general 
tenor of his word, though not in all cases expressly enjoined 
by it, they have a right to expect that he will affix to them 
the seal of his approbation : but if they are contrary to the 
spirit of the gospel, they must inevitably incur his dis- 
pleasure. 

What then are some of the general characteristics of 
those measures which the Bible authorizes in connection 
with a revival of religion ? The true answer to this ques- 
tion may not only enable us to distinguish between right 
and wrong measures of man's devising, but also to decide 

11* 



f4 LECTURE T, 

when the instituted means of grace are^ or are not, used in 
a scriptural manner. 

1. All the means which God's word authorizes, are 
characterized hy seriousness. 

It will be admitted, on all hands, that if any subject can 
be presented to the mind which claims its serious regard^ 
it is religion ; or if any occasion ever occurs, in which the 
semblance of levity is unseasonable and revolting, it is a 
revival of religion. For then the world, for a season at 
least, falls into the back ground ; and the interests of the 
soul become the all-engrossing object. Then men are letting 
go the things which are seen and are temporal, and grasping 
after the things which are not seen and are eternal. The 
work which is attended to then, is deep reflection, and 
earnest prayer, and agonizing conviction, and effectual 
repentance, and the forming of holy resolutions, and the 
renewing of spiritual strength. Many sinners are coming 
into the kingdom ; and saints, and no doubt angels, are 
looking on with deep concern lest others should abandon 
their convictions, and provoke the Spirit to depart from 
them for ever. I may appeal to any of you w^ho have 
been in the midst of a revival, whether a deep solemnity 
did not pervade the scene ; whether, even if it is your 
common business to trifle, you were not compelled to be 
solemn then ? And if you have wished at such a moment 
to be gay, have you not felt that that was not the place 
for it ; and that before you could get your mind filled with 
vain thoughts, and your heart with light emotions, you 
must withdraw and mingle in some different scene ? 

Now then, if there be a high degree of solemnity belong- 
ing essentially to a revival of religion^ — if there never be a 
scene on earth more solemn than this — surely every mea- 
sure that is adopted in connection with it, ought to partake 
of the jsame character. It were worse than preposterous 



LECTURE V, 95 

to think of carrying forward such a work by any means 
which are not marked by the deepest seriousness, or to 
introduce any thing which is adapted to awaken and 
cherish the lighter emotions, when all such emotions should 
be awed out of the mind. All ludicrous anecdotes, and 
modes of expression, and gestures, and attitudes, are never 
more out of place than when the Holy Spirit is moving 
upon the hearts of a congregation. Every thing of this 
kind is fitted to grieve him away ; because it directly contra- 
dicts the errand on* which he has come ; — that of convin- 
cing sinners of their guilt, and renewing them to repent- 
ance. Nor is the cause at all relieved by the occasional 
introduction of what may be really solemn and weighty ; 
for its legitimate effect is almost of course neutralized by 
the connection in which it is presented ; and that which 
might otherwise fall with awful power upon the conscience, 
is thus rendered utterly powerless and unimpressive. And 
not only so, but there is often in this way an association 
formed in the mind, which is exceedingly hostile to subse- 
quent religious impressions ; — an association between 
solemn truths which ought to make the sinner tremble, and 
ludicrous expressions which will supply him with matter 
for jests. 

I doubt not that in reply to this, I shall be referred to the 
wonderful success of Whitfield and a few others, whose 
preaching has been characterized by what I have here set 
down as an exceptionable peculiarity. But I would say 
that these cases constitute exceptions from the common 
.course of human experience. God had given to these men 
a power over the human passions altogether peculiar ; so 
that they could sometimes make use even of the lighter 
feelings in giving to divine truth its deepest impression. 
But they are not in this respect an example for other 
men. All experience proves that when men of common 



% LECTURE V. 

minds attempt to tread in their footstepsj they accomplish 
nothing to any good purpose ; and even in the case of the 
individuals referred to, it may reasonably be doubted 
whether the good effect of their labors was not often 
diminished, rather than assisted, by the use which they 
made of this extraordinary power : certainly this was true 
in every instance in which the lighter emotions were ulti- 
mately left to preponderate. 

But surely no one will say that the Bible treats the 
subject of religion otherwise than in the most serious man- 
ner. Every thing that is there said respecting it, takes 
for granted that it is a concern of the deepest moment. 
So too, in all the accounts which the Bible records respect- 
ing revivals of religion, there is nothing that even ap- . 
preaches the confines of levity. All that is recorded as 
having been spoken or done on these occasions, was of a 
deeply serious character ; and as these revivals were con- 
ducted by inspired men, we hav^e a right to conclude that 
the course which they adopted, was, in all respects, most 
in accordance with the designs of infinite wisdom. 

2. Another characteristic of those means for promoting 
a revival, which are authorized by God's word, is order. 

The Apostle in his first epistle to the Corinthians, dwells 
at length on the importance of avoiding all irregularities in 
religious worship ; declaring that " God is not the author of 
confusion ;" and exhorting that '' all things be done 
decently, and in order." And what the Apostle had said, 
on this subject is in entire correspondence with the general 
tenor of God's word ; and I may add, with all just and 
rational views of the divine character. In every thing 
that God has done there is perfect order ; insomuch that it 
has been said by a poet, with inimitable beauty, that 
*' order is heaven's first law." In the pure and elevated 
worship of heaven, though there are ten thousand times 



LECTURE V, 97 

ten thousand, and thousands of thousands who join in it, 
yet each harp and each voice is in unison with every 
other ; and there is not the semblance of disorder in that 
whole glorified community. Surely then, in all our reli- 
gious services, and in all the measures we adopt for co- 
operating with the Holy Spirit in the great work of saving 
men, it becomes us to take heed that we never violate even 
the spirit of the Apostle's precept ; that we do every thing 
not only with sincerity and zeal, but with that reverent 
decorum which so well becomes us when engaged in the 
immediate service of the infinite God. And hence we are 
obliged to look with strong condemnation on that indeco- 
rous familiarity which is sometimes manifested in prayer ; 
on expressions which, to say the least, border upon vulgar- 
ity, and would scarcely be regarded decent in common 
intercourse between man and man ; on every thing like 
groaning, or shrieking, or shouting, during a religious ser- 
vice ; on the praying of females in meetings composed of 
both sexes ; on the speaking, whether in prayer or exhor« 
tation, of several individuals at the same time ; on every 
thing in short which contributes to render a religious exer- 
cise, in the least degree, boisterous or irregular. We do 
not doubt that many of these evils may exist, not only 
where there is sincerity, but more or less of genuine 
Christian feeling ; but we insist that they are totally incon- 
sistent with the decorum that belongs essentially to 
, religious worship ; and therefore ought to be discouraged. 

But possibly it may be asked whether the fervor which 
often exists in connection with these irregularities is not to 
be admitted as an apology for them ; and whether we ought 
not to be slow in condemning the one, lest we should seem 
to pass sentence against the other ? I answer unhesitatingly 
— No. The highest degree of genuine religious fervor, even 
that which the redeemed experience, while they cast their 



98 LECTURE V. 

crowns at the Saviour's feet, is consistent with perfect 
order ; and I venture to say that their worship, full of ele- 
vated rapture as it is, is associated with a degree of rever- 
ence, of which even Isaiah and Paul could here form no 
adequate conception. But that kind of fervor which is the 
parent of irregularities, which makes an individual appa- 
rently forget that he is on earth, and the Being whom he 
addresses, in heaven, is, to say the least, of exceedingly 
doubtful origin, and there is too much reason to fear that it will 
be found at last to have been a mere earthly affection. But 
even if it be admitted that a truly Christian fervor may be 
associated with gross irregularities, we maintain that there 
is no natural connection between them : the one is right and 
the other wrong ; and whenever they are found together, 
the true way is to hold fast the one, and let go the other. 
I observe, 

3. That another characteristic of the means which God 
authorizes in connection with a revival is simplicity ; — and 
by this I mean the opposite of all parade and ostentation. 

It is admitted that under the Jewish dispensation, there 
were many things connected with religious worship, which 
were adapted to make a strong appeal to the senses ; but 
all that machinery was abolished at the introduction of the 
Christian economy. JVow every thing in relation to the 
worship of God is simple ; even the ordinances which are 
addressed to the senses, though they are full of meaning, 
are yet capable of being understood by a child. And all 
the means vi^hich are adopted for the advancement of reli- 
gion, ought surely to correspond with the general spiritual 
character of the dispensation. And wherever there is a 
departure from this principle in reference to a revival, there 
is not only a palpable violation of scripture precept, but 
there is a bad influence exerted, as well upon those who 
are Christians as those who are not. The effect upon Chris- 



LECTURE V. 99 

tians is to awaken or cherish spiritual pride, and to lead 
them to lose sight of the great Agent in their own self-com- 
placent instrumentality. Its effect upon those who are mere 
spectators will probably be, to lead them to pass severe 
judgment on the revival itself; or else admitting what they 
see to be scriptural, to lower their views of the humility of 
the gospel. And if it be admitted that in the use of such 
means, persons become truly regenerated, is there not much 
reason to fear that they will be born into the kingdom with 
an overweening self-confidence ; and that they will exhibit 
from the beginning a cast of character, not the most favor- 
able either to Christian enjoyment or Christian usefulness ? 
Let all our means for sustaining and advancing revivals be 
simple and unostentatious, and while we shall be acting in 
consistency with the spirit of the gospel, we may hope to 
do most and do best for our Master's honor, and the salvation 
of our fellow men. 

4. Another characteristic of the means which God ap- 
proves for carrying forward a revival, and closely connect- 
ed with the preceding, is honesty ; — by which I mean the 
opposite of all worldly artifice. 

It is true, indeed, that mere sincerity does not constitute 
religion ; because a man may be very sincere in that which 
is very wrong ; nevertheless there is no religion without sin- 
cerity ; and while the gospel abounds in direct exhortations 
to cultivate it, the general tendency of the gospel is to form 
a perfectly honest character. Now in accordance with 
this general feature of Christianity, every measure which 
is adopted for bringing sinners to repentance, ought to be 
marked by entire Christian sincerity. The maxim that the 
end justifies the means, has sometimes been adopted in this 
department of Christian duty ; and there is reason to fear 
that ministers, and good ministers too, have acted under its 
infiuerice ; and instead of preaching God's truth in all its 



100 LECTURE V. 

length and breadth, have selected some particular parts of 
it to the exclusion of others, thus separating things which 
God hath joined together ; and instead of preaching God^s , 
truth just as it is, they have made high-wrought and over- 
strained statements, which the Bible does not authorize ; 
and this they have done from a conviction that such state- 
ments are best adapted to produce powerful impression, as 
if the word of God would be tame and powerless if it should 
come forth in its native simplicity. I confess I know not 
how to characterize this in juster terms, than that it is 
^' handling God's word deceitfully." It were presumption 
in any one to suppose that God has revealed any thing 
which is not profitable, or that he has omitted any thing 
which is important. What God requires his ministers to 
do, is not to frame any thing new, or even to correct or 
revise his own word, but to dispense it just as they receive 
it at his hands : and if they do this, he will take care for 
consequences. But if they adopt any different course, they 
may fairly expect that, in some way or other, the divine 
displeasure will be visited upon their presumption. 

And what is true of the preaching of the word, is equals 
iy true of all other means for carrying foward a revival — * 
they must all be characterized by Christian honesty ; — ho- 
nesty as well towards God in whose service they are pro- 
fessedly employed, as towards the immortal souls whose 
salvation they are designed to effect. 

5. The last general characteristic which I shall notice 
of the means which God's word authorizes for promoting a 
revival, is affectio7v^. 

The gospel is pre-eminently a system of benevolence. 
The great object which, it designs to accomplish — viz. the 
redemption of sinners, is the most benevolent object for 
which the heart of man or angel ever beat. And it is di- 
rectly fitted to form in man a spirit of benevolence. It 



LECTURE V. 101 

enjoins the exercise of kindness and good will in all circum- 
stances, and all relations. And surely if there be any oc- 
casion on which the tenderness which the gospel inculcates 
ought to be exercised, it is in the efforts which are made to 
bring men to conviction and repentance ; in other words, to 
carry into effect the gracious purpose of God in their redemp- 
tion. Witness the exhibition of this spirit in the ministry 
of the holy Apostle, who, with all his firmness and energy, 
(and no man ever had more,) was uniformly courteous and 
affectionate. Witness too, a greater than Paul — even our 
great model and master ; — observe the meekness and gen- 
tleness that characterized all his conduct ; listen to his pa- 
thetic exclamation over the guilty city of Jerusalem, and to 
the inimitably tender petition which he offered in his last 
moments in behalf of his enemies and murderers ; — and then 
say whether the benevolent spirit which he inculcates in 
his instructions, does not shine forth with unparalleled 
brightness in his character ? But who does not know that 
all this is the exact opposite of what has sometimes appear- 
ed among the professed followers of Christ, even in their 
labors to advance his cause ? And who does not see that 
it conveys a pointed rebuke to all those ministrations which 
are characterized by unhallowed severity ; — to all addresses 
whether public or private, designed to waken up the bad 
passions, and draw forth expressions of resentment ; — to 
every thing, in short, which is not according to the meek- 
ness and benevolence of the gospel ? 

Let no one supposethat I am pleading for a temporizing 
course, either as it respects ministers or private Christians ; 
or that I object to the use of great plainness of speech. I 
would have the naked sword of the Spirit brought directly 
in contact with the sinner's conscience. I would have 
no covering up, or softening down, of plain Bible truth. 
I would have the terrors of the invisible world, and the 

12 



102 LECTURE Vo 

fearful depravity and doom of the sinner, held up in the 
same appalling terms in which thej are represented in God's 
word. But never was there a greater mistake than to 
suppose that all this may not consist with an affectionate 
and inoffensive manner. Let the benevolent spirit of the 
gospel have its legitimate operation in a minister, and it 
will lead him to proclaim the most solemn and alarming, 
truths with a tenderness which will be well-fitted to open a 
passage for them to the heart. Let the same spirit possess 
the breast of a private Christian, and he too will earnestly 
exhort sinners to flee from the wrath to come ; but while 
he commends himself to their consciences on the one hand 
by his fidelity and honesty, he will ordinarily commend 
himself to their feelings of good will on the other by his 
kindness and affection. 

Having thus noticed some of the characteristics of those 
means which God's word authorizes in connection with a 
revival of religion, we are now prepared to inquire more 
particularly ivhat those means are. We shall consider 
indiscriminately those which are of divine appointment, 
and those which are not. 

1 . And the first we notice is, the faithful preaching of 
God's ivord. 

As divine truth is the instrument by which the work of 
sanctification is accomplished, so we have a right to expect 
its greatest influence, when it is wielded by means of an 
institution which God himself has ordained. Accordingly 
we find that God honors the preaching of the gospel in the 
conversion of men more than all other means ; and if this 
institution were to be abolished, even though the Bible 
should still be left in the world, there is no reason to doubt 
that the great cause of moral renovation would be arrested^ 
and a darkness that could be felt speedily settle over the 
earth. 



LECTURE V. 103 

But in order that the preaching of the gospel may exert 
its full influence, especially as a means of promoting revi- 
vals, it is necessary that the institution should be maintain- 
ed in all respects agreeably to the design of its author. 
Particularly, it is essential that the great doctrines of the 
gospel should be distinctly and fairly exhibited ; in opposi- 
tion to human philosophy on the one hand, and to mere 
exhortation on the other. I acknowledge that by earnest 
and impassioned addresses, in which there is little or nothing 
of God's truth, there may be produced a feverish excitement 
of the mind ; and that^ through the influence of sympathy, 
may be extended over a congregation ; but if the great 
doctrines of the Bible are not brought in contact with the 
conscience and the heart, I expect to look in vain for any 
thing like an intelligent conviction of sin ; much less for the 
peaceable fruits of righteousness. It is when the law of 
God is exhibited in all its extent and spirituality, and the 
gospel in all its grace and glory, that we may expect to 
see men brought to a sense of guilt, and believing on the 
Lord Jesus Christ that they may be saved. Other things 
being equal, you may calculate with confidence on the 
best effect of the preaching of the gospel, when its distin- 
guishing doctrines are exhibited with the greatest promi- 
nence. 

But then these doctrines must be held up in their prac- 
tical bearings. They may be stated ever so clearly, and 
defended ever so skilfully, in the form of abstract proposi- 
tions, and yet all this will be to little purpose, unless men 
can be made to feel that they describe their own character, 
and condition, and relations, and prospects. When the law 
of God is exhibited, the aim should be to bring it home to 
every conscience as the standard of duty, and to make each 
one estimate his own character in view of U. When the 
doctrine of depravity is proclaimed, it should be in that 



104 LECTURE V. 

spirit of direct and personal application, which is adapted 
to bring up before the sinner his own pollution and guilt. 
When the great doctrine of Christ's atonement is held up, 
it should be exhibited in its most practical relations, and 
brought directly in contact with the feelings of the heart, 
and urged as a rebuke to impenitence on the one hand, and 
an encouragement to exertion and a foundation of hope on 
the other. It is only when men are brought to contem- 
plate the gospel as a practical system, bearing directly on 
all the interests of both w^orlds, that it can become, in 
respect to them, the power of God unto salvation. 

Much also depends on the^ right adaptation of divine 
truth. In a season of revival especially, one of the most 
difficult duties which devolve upon a minister is the selection 
of appropriate topics of public instruction. Suppose, at 
such a time, he were to bring before his people that funda- 
mental truth in all religion— the existence of a God, and 
should attempt by a process of reasoning, to vindicate it 
against the objections of atheism ; or suppose he were to 
discuss, in an elaborate manner, the historical evidence of 
Christianity ;— this, in certain circumstances, might be 
very proper ; but it would be ill adapted to guide inquiring 
souls to the Lord Jesus Christ ; or to prevent them from 
grieving away the Holy Spirit. It is obvious that the great 
peculiarities of the gospel should, in some form or other, at 
such a time, constitute the whole burden of a minister's 
public instructions ; nevertheless there is great wisdom 
requisite to determine in what form, and in what combina- 
tions, these truths will be likely to come with the greatest 
power ; — what proportion of eiFort should be employed to 
alarm the careless, to guide the inquiring, and to prove and 
establish those who are hopefully born of the Spirit. 

In order to prepare the way under God for a revival of 
religion, it is proper that those truths should be urged with . 



LECTURE V. 105 

special prominence, which involve most directly the great 
subject of Christian obligation ] and which are best fitted 
to awaken sluggish and backsliden professors to a sense 
of their duty; for so long as Christians remain asleep, it 
cannot be expected that sinners will be awake : so long as 
Christians do not pray, or pray only in a formal manner, 
htere is little reason to hope that sinners will begin to in- 
quire. And in the progress of a revival, the duties of 
Christians should still be frequently pressed upon them, 
that they may not become weary in well doing ; and the 
law should be proclaimed with all its thunders, that there 
may be a constant waking up from the dreams of self-secu- 
rity among sinners ; and the gospel should be constantly 
exhibited, in all the richness and adaptation of its provision, 
and in the full extent of its conditions, that inquirers may 
not mistake the way to the fountain of atoning blood. I 
do not say indeed that God in his sovereignty may not 
work, and work powerfully, where his ministers fail ex- 
ceedingly in rightly dividing the word of truth ; neverthe- 
less, as the truth is the instrument by which he works, and 
as particular parts of it are adapted to particular ends, we 
have a right to conclude that when it is preached in its 
right adaptation, and with a judicious reference to circum- 
stances, it will ordinarily be preached with the greatest 
efFebt. And, if I mistake not, this remark is confirmed by 
the history of revivals. Wherever ministers have selected 
their subjects with the greatest wisdom, addressing diffe- 
rent classes with proper discrimination, and in due propor- 
tion, there have usually been witnessed the greatest 
displays of divine power, in the conviction and conversion 
of sinners, in the edification of Christians — in short, in a 
consistent and glorious revival of religion. 

I only add farther, under this article, that during a sea- 
son of revival, a larger amount of public religious instruc- 

12* 



10^^ LEO^URE V, 

tion is demanded, than in ordinary circumstances. Fox 
then there is a listening ear ; and the understanding and 
conscience are awake ; and the truth of God tells with 
mighty effect upon all the powers of the soul. Indeed 
men will hear the gospel preached at such a time ; and if 
they cannot hear in one city they will flee to another ; and 
if they cannot hear it in its purity, take 'heed lest they 
should put themselves under the ministrations of some 
fanatic or heretic. And this demand for religious instruc- 
tion must be met ; — not indeed, in all cases, to the full 
extent ; for it is possible, even in a revival, that public ser- 
vices may be multipUed to such a degree as to prevent 
their good effect ; and men under the influence of strong 
excitement are not always besi qualified to judge ; never- 
theless, while there is room here for the exercise of wisdom, 
it admits not of question that the truth ought to be kept, so 
far as may be, constantly before the mind ; and this is to be 
effected principally by means of public instruction. 

It has long been a practice in some parts of the church, 
and has recently become common in this country, to hold 
a succession of religious exercises through a period of 
several days. In respect to this measure, though I am 
aware that it is liable to great abuse, yet in itself consider- 
ed, I confess that, in certain circumstances, and with cer- 
tain limitations, it seems to me unobjectionable. One 
principal reason w^hy sinners are not converted, is, that the 
impression which the truth makes upon them in the house 
of God, yields almost instantly to the cares and levities of the 
world. Now then, if before this impression can have time 
to escape, it be followed up by another exhibition of truth, 
and another, there is reason to hope that it may become 
permanent ; and that the result may be a genuine conver- 
sion to God : and this effect, it cannot be denied, is likely, 
in many cases, to be secured by a succession of several 



LECTURE V. 107 

public religious services. But while I am free to express 
my conviction that such a meeting may be— has been, an 
important means of good, I think it cannot be questioned 
that the benefit to result from it must depend greatly on 
the circumstances in which it is introduced, and the man- 
ner in which it is conducted. Let it be regarded as an 
extraordinary measure, not frequently to be repeated ; let 
it be held when the minds of a congregation are waking 
up to God's truth ; and let it be conducted with solemnity 
and decorum becoming the exercises of the sanctuary on 
the Sabbath ; and I doubt not it may be rendered truly and 
even greatly subservient to a revival of religion. Bat on 
the other hand, let it be regarded as a common measure 
often to be repeated ; let it b^ held without any reference 
to the peculiar circumstances of a congregation, and espe- 
cially let it be conducted with an irreverent disregard to 
the order of religious worship, or in a spirit of forwardness, 
or censoriousness, or fanaticism ; and then it becomes a 
measure which the adversary wields with powerful effect 
against the purity of revivals and the interests of the 
church. 

2. Another important m^eans to be used in connection 
with a revival, is private and social prayer. 

It is in the closet especially that Christians must expect 
to get the flame of devotion enkindled ; and if the closet be 
neglected, whatever of a devotional frame they may sup- 
pose themselves to possess while mingling in public exer- 
cises, they have great reason to suspect is the mere operation 
of sympathy or animal feeling. And while that spirit of 
prayer in which a revival begins, usually originates in the 
closet, there the Christian may wrestle in behalf of Zion 
with as much earnestness as he will ; there he m.ay pour 
out his soul in tears, and sighs, and broken petitions, and 
' the ear on which his importunity falls will never be offended 



108 



LECTURE V, 



by it. There too he may bring before God the cases of his 
individual friends, and even plead for them by name, and 
mention minute circumstances of their condition, (which 
would be entirely inconsistent with the decorum of public 
worship,) and earnestly suppUcate for ihem the convincing 
and renewing influences of the Spirit. It is probable that, 
during every true revival, the most fer\'ent and eifectual 
prayers that are offered, go up from the closet ; and are 
never heard by any other ear than that which hears in 
secret. 

But there should be much of social, as well as private 
prayer, connected with a revival. Much may be effected 
by the frequent meetings for this purpose of a few friends, 
whose hearts are closely joined together, who have a com- 
mon interest not only in regard to the general cause, but in 
respect to particular individuals ; and whose communings 
together serve to increase that interest, as well as to 
heighten in each other the spirit of earnest intercession. 
The record of these retired meetings, noiseless and unknown 
to the world, will, I have no doubt, show, at the last, that 
there was often mighty energy there ; and that the Spirit 
made intercession with groanings which could not be ut- 
tered. And in larger circles too, God's people are often to 
meet, for the express purpose of supplicating the influences 
of his Spirit ; and though, on these occasions, the prayers 
must necessarily be more general, yet they should have 
direct reference to the advancement of God's work. And 
these prayers, instead of being offered in the spirit of for- 
maUty, should be the deep and earnest longings of the 
soul ; should go up from hearts bathed with the reviving 
influences of the Holy Ghost. 

Prayer, as a means of grace, or a means of promoting 
revivals, is distinguished, in one respect, from every other : 
all other means are addressed immediately to men — this, 



LECTURE V, 109 

directly to God. And all others are dependent in no small 
degree for their success on this ; for ministers and Christians 
may labor, no matter how faithfully, and it will be to no 
purpose without a divine influence ; and that influence is 
to be secured only by prayer. God has said that he will 
be "inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." 
Prayer then, let it never be forgotten, secures the blessing 
on every other means which the church employs. Prayer 
too may reach individuals whom the preaching of the gos- 
pel could never reach ; because they will not come within 
the sound of it. You may have irreligious friends to whom 
you dare not open your lips concerning their salvation ; 
and yet you can go and pour out your whole soul before 
God in their behalf ; and that prayer, for aught you can 
say, may carry the Holy Spirit to their hearts to work a 
genuine work of conversion. Believe me. Christians, you 
cannot, at any time, estimate prayer as a means of saving 
the souls of your fellow men too highly. Though it can- 
not take the place of other means, it is that without which 
air others would be utterly in vain; and besides it has a 
direct influence, the extent of which it is impossible fully 
to estimate. Therefore, brethren, pray without ceasing. 

3. Much is to be done in producing and sustaining a 
revival by means of conversation. 

This is a duty which devolves not only upon the minister 
and other officers of the church, but upon all private 
Christians according to their ability. And it is a duty 
which may be performed in a great variety of circumstances. 
There may be frequent opportunities for it in the common 
intercourse of life ; and no doubt a suitable degree of atten- 
tion would discover many opportunities which are suffered 
to pass without observation. But this is a duty which, 
especially in a season of revival, should hold a distinct and 
prominent place among Christian duties ; and should not 



110 LECTURE V, 

be left to the control of any contingency. There should 
foe, so far as possible, a regular system of visiting, especially 
on the part of church officers ; with a view to alarm, to 
direct, or to quicken, according to the circumstances of each 
individual with whom they may converse. 

It belongs to Christians on these occasions to stir up the 
minds of each other ; to endeavor to make each other feel 
more deeply their responsibility, and the value of the souls 
around them, and the danger of their being lost : and if 
there be among their number any who are sluggish, and 
disposed to excuse themselves from coming up to the help 
of the Lord, they are to be entreated affectionately, yet 
earnestly, to shake off their apathy, and give themselves 
actively to the great work. And while Christians are to 
be faithful in their conversation with each other, — to en- 
courage, to arouse, to quicken, so also are they to be faithful 
in warning the wicked of his wicked way, and in endea- 
voring to open his eyes on the destruction that threatens 
him. And those whose consciences are awake they are 
to press with the obligation of immediate repentance ; ex- 
plaining to them, if need be, the terms of the gospel, and 
endeavoring to lead them without delay to the cross of 
Christ. They have an important duty to perform also in 
respect to those who have professedly come out of darkness 
into light ; in assisting to detect false hopes and confirm 
good hopes ; to guard against temptation, and establish 
principles of holy living, and form plans for future useful- 
ness. Many a Christian has had occasion, through his 
whole religious life, to reflect that much of his usefulness 
and much of his happiness, was to be referred under God, 
to an unreserved intimacy, or perhaps to a single conver- 
sation, with some judicious Christian friend, at that critical 
moment subsequent to his conversion, when he was adopt- 
ing principles for the regulation of his conduct, 



LECTURE V, 111 

You will not understand m^ here as recommending that 
every one should assume the office of a religious teacher ; 
or that all Christians indiscriminately should take it upon 
them to give particular counsels and directions to the 
awakened sinner. The general direction to exercise re- 
pentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
it may come within the scope even of the humblest intelli- 
gence, to give ; but to counsel an inquiring sinner aright 
sometimes becomes an exceedingly delicate and difficult 
duty, and may well put in requisition the experience and 
wisdom of the most advanced and judicious Christians : 
and the assumption of this office by those who are inade- 
quate to it, it is easy to see, must greatly jeopardize the 
souls of men. While therefore, every Christian, however 
circumscribed his field, or however limited his attainments, 
has something to do, by his conversation, in helping for- 
ward God's work, let every one take heed that he attempt 
nothing in this way which his knowledge or experience 
will not justify. 

4. Another important means for producing and sustain- 
ing a revival is Sabbath school and Bible class instruction. 

As the work of sanctification is begun and carried for- 
ward by means of the truth, it is manifest that the greater 
the degree of truth that is lodged in the mind, the greater 
the probability, other things being equal, that the individual 
will become a subject of conversion. And as the mind is 
far more easily impressed and directed in the period of 
childhood and youth, than after it has reached maturity 
and its habits have become fixed, so it is in the morning of 
life that the truth is likely to exert its greatest influence. 
Now then, as it is the design of the Sabbath school to throw 
the Hght of truth into the mind, and into the youthful mind ; 
in other word5 to wield the great instrument of moral 
renovation in circumstances most favorable to its success, 



112 LECTURE V. 

it cannot be doubted that this institution is a most powerful 
auxiliary to the cause of revivals. A child who could 
gain but little from the ordinary instructions of the pulpit, 
in consequence of their exceeding his capacity, may, from 
the more simple and familiar instructions of the Sabbath 
school, be learning at least the elements of Bible truth ; 
and at a very early period, no one can say how early, may 
have truth enough in his mind for the Spirit to use in the 
sanctification of his heart. 

But there is a still more direct influence exerted by 
Sabbath schools in favor of revivals. It ought to be, and 
we doubt not, is, to a great extent, regarded as the duty 
of every teacher, not merely to enlighten the understanding, 
but to impress divine truth upon the heart and conscience 
of each of his pupils ; aiming at nothing short of a thorough 
moral renovation. Here is the best possible opportunity 
for the teacher to find his way to the heart. If, in the 
intercourse which he holds with his pupils, he is amiable 
and conciliatory, he will almost of course secure their con- 
fidence ; and this is a most important preparation for their 
listening to him with attention and profit. And then let 
him, from time to time, commune faithfully with th^ir con- 
sciences ; let him show them how the truths which he 
inculcates involve their interests and destiny for eternity ; 
let him press them frequentlj'' with those considerations 
which are most fitted to make them feel that religion is the 
one thing needful, and that there is no apology for neglect- 
ing it. Let him carefully watch every serious impression, 
following it up by suitable admonitions and coimsels ; and 
finally let him bear the interests of these children before the 
throne of the heavenly grace ; and he has good reason to 
expect that such instrumentality will be honored in saving 
souls from death. It is familiar to you all that the records 
of Sabbath schools and the records of revivals are to a 



Lscftjiife If. ill 

great extent indentified ; that the noblest triumphs of God^s 
grace have ofteii been found in these nurseries of knowledge^ 
virtuej and piety* 

There is another point of view in which the influence of 
Sabbath schools on revivals appears most desirable— 1 refer 
to the fact that they contribute to ttfeir purity. One prin- 
cipal reason why revivals are sometimes corrupted isj that 
there is so much ignorance and ettor at work in the midst 
of them ; and every one knows that this is the natural 
food of fanaticism. Let the Sabbath school exert its proper 
influence in imbuing the minds of children with a knowledge 
of God^s word, and in establishing them in the great prin- 
ciples of the gospel, and it will constitute the best security 
against those false and fanatical notions which tend so di- 
rectly to fatal self-deception. Let God's Spirit be poured 
out upon a community well instructed in the truths of the 
gospel, and the happiest results may confidently be ex- 
pected ; for here is the natural preparation for a revival on 
the one hand, and the best pledge against all perversion 
and abuse on the other. 

The remarks which have been made in respect to Sabbath 
schools, apply, in general, with equal force, to Bible classes. 
Indeed, the latter may, in one point of view, be considered 
as more intimately connected with revivals than the former; 
inasmuch as those who attend them are usually somewhat 
more advanced, and of course more capable of understand- 
ing and improving doctrinal instruction. Hence, revivals 
have perhaps, of late, more frequently commenced in Bible 
classes than any where else ; and not a few instances have 
occurred, in which all or nearly all the members of a class 
have become hopefully the subjects of renewing grace ; 
while the work, which had its beginning here, has extend- 
ed on the right hand and on the left, till multitudes have 
experienced its quickening and renovating influence. 

13 



114 LECTURE V. 

5. The faithful discharge of parental duty^ is another 
important means of promoting a revival. 

There is no human influence ever exerted in forming the 
character, more decisive, whether for good or evil, than that 
of parents ; and if it be a well directed religious influence, 
we have a right to expect, both from the nature of the case 
and from actual experience, that it will secure the happiest 
results. Let a parent train up his children in the way 
which the Bible prescribes ; let him faithfully instruct them 
in the truths of God's word as soon as they are capable of 
being taught ; let him render his instructions as familiar 
and practical as possible, mingling with them appropriate 
counsels and admonitions ; and let him pray with them, and 
for them, and teach them to pray for themselves ; and if all this 
is not immediately instrumental of their conversion, it w^ill, at 
least in all ordinary cases, render them peculiarly promising 
candidates for converting grace ; will be a happy prepara- 
tion for the effectual work of God's Holy Spirit. 

I know it has been sometimes said that the subjects of 
revivals are most commonly selected from the haunts of 
open irreligion and profligacy ; while those who have been 
educated under the benign influences of Christian instruc- 
tion and example, more commonly remain entrenched in a 
habit of mere morality and self-righteousness. But I ap- 
peal to the whole history of revivals for evidence that this 
is not so. I know, indeed, that God glorifies his sovereignty, 
by extending his renewing grace to some who would seem 
to be at the greatest distance from him ; but as a general 
rule, he puts direct and visible honor upon his own institu- 
tions by bringing those to experience the sanctifying influ- 
ence of his truth, who have been in the way of hearing 
and studying it. If it be asked, whence come the greater 
number of the subjects of our revivals, w^e answer, from 
our Sabbath schools, and Bible classes, and from families 



LECTURE V, 115 

in which the parental mfluence is decidedly religious ; and 
the reason why some have held a different opinion, is, that 
when a profligate or an infidel is hopefully converted, it ex- 
cites much attention and remark ; and thus the number of 
such conversions is frequently estimated far higher than it 
should be. Go into any place you will, where the Holy 
Spirit has been extensively and powerfully at work, and you 
will find that the families which have been specially bless- 
ed, are those in which God has been honored by the faith- 
ful discharge of parental duty, and the general influence of 
Christian example ; while only here and there one is taken 
from those families in which there is no parental restraint, 
nor instruction, nor prayer ; and in which, as a natural con- 
sequence, the youthful mind is pre-occupied with sentiments 
and feelings most unfriendly to the work of the Holy Spirit. 
It deserves also to be remarked that much devolves upon 
Christian parents in immediately sustaining and carrying 
forward a revival. If they see their children, at such a 
time, manifesting an indifference to the things of religion, 
they are to press them most earnestly and affectionately 
with its obligations. If they see in them the least anxiety, 
they are to endeavor by every means, to cherish it, and put 
them on their guard against grieving away the Holy Spirit, 
and take them by the hand, and lead them, if possible, to 
the Lamb of God. If they see them rejoicing in the hope 
that their sins are forgiven, they are to aid them by lessons 
from God's word and their own experience, to ascertain the 
true character of their religious exercises, and to avoid the 
hope of the hypocrite. It is a reproach to many Christian 
parents, that they suffer a false delicacy to prevail against 
the faithful discharge of their duty in these most interesting 
circumstances. As God has constituted them the guardians 
of their children, it devolves upon them to be especially 
watchful in respect to their immortal interests ; and never 



116 LECTURE V. 

is neglect more culpable, than when the Holy Spirit is 
offering to co-operate with them to secure their children's 
salvation. 

6, The last ineans for promoting a revival which I shall 
notice, is, an exercise designed particularly for awakened 
sinners. 

It is generally admitted, I believe, by those who are 
friendly to revivals, that there should be some occasion on 
which persons of this class should be distinctly addressed ; 
and which by bringing them together as inquiring souls, 
may serve in a measure to get them over their indecision, 
and commit them to a course of successful striving to enter 
in at the straight gate ; though special care should be taken 
that this act of their commitment is not perverted to yield 
aliment to a self-righteous spirit. What the precise cha- 
racter of this exercise should be, you are aware, is a point 
in relation to which there is a diversity of opinion. I con- 
fess the result of my own reflection and observation on this 
subject, has been a conviction that no better course could 
be adopted, than that with which you, as a congregation, are 
already familiar. At the close of a public service in which 
God's truth has been exhibited and enforced, let those who 
have been impressed by it, and who wish to have their 
impressions deepened, and to be instructed in reference to 
their duty and salvation, be requested to remain after the 
rest of the assembly have retired. And then let the minis- 
ter, or some other competent person, address them earnestly 
and affectionately in reference to their peculiar condition ; 
connecting with the address one or more prayers ; and after- 
wards, so far as circun^stances may admit, or occasion 
require, let them be met in a more private way, and let the 
particular state of each mind be ascertained ; and let each 
receive appropriate counsel and instruction. In all this 
there is nothing ostentatious, nothing which peculiarly ex- 



LECTURE V. 117 

poses to self-deception, while jet the individual commits 
himself as truly as he could bj any more public act, to che- 
rish his serious impressions, and places himself in a condition 
in which the prayers of Christians, and scriptural instruc- 
tion and counsel, are eflfectually secured to him. I do not 
say that some different course may not appeal more 
strongly to the passions ; but 1 confess that I know of none 
which seems to me better adapted to impress upon the con- 
science and heart, Bible truth ; and thus subserve a genuine 
revival of religion.* 

With two or three remarks, by way of inference, we 
shall conclude the discourse. 

1. Our subject may assist us to forma correct judgment 
of any 'particular measures^ lohich may be proposed in con- 
nection with a revival. 

There may be danger on this subject of erring on the 
right hand, and on the left. It is wrong to decide against 
any particular measure merely because it is new ; and it 
is equally wrong to adopt it merely because it is new. It 
would be strange when the invention of the church is so 
constantly in exercise, if there should not be some new 
things connected with religion which are good ; and it 
would be strange in view of the waywardness and extrava- 
gance that pertain to human nature, if there should not be 
others of evil tendency. Here, then, is an argument for 

♦ From the experience I have had on this subject, I am inclined to 
think that this mode of treating inquirers is to be preferred to that which 
has been common, and which I have myself formerly adopted — of hold- 
ing a meeting of a more public nature for the express purpose of 
inquiry. It is no doubt of great importance that an opportunity for 
inquiry should be given ; but the more private, other things being equal, 
the better. In an extensive revival of religion, however, especially 
where the burden of conducting it devolves chiefly on a single individual, 
it may sometimes be a matter of necessity for him to meet a greater 
number of inquirers ata time than would otherwise be desirable. 

13* 



118 LECTURE V. 

our examining carefully every measure or course of mea- 
sures that is proposed to us, and referring it to the proper 
standard. If it will abide that standard, it were an 
unworthy prejudice not to adopt it. If it will not abide 
that standard, to adopt it were at once a weakness and a 
sin. It were to refuse the privilege which God has 'given 
us of judging for .ourselves what is right. 

If you willknow then whether it is safe and proper to 
adopt any particular measures in connection with revivals, 
which may be comparatively new in the church, bring 
them to the test which has been presented in the former 
part of this discourse. Are they characterized by serious- 
ness ; by the entire absence of every thing that approaches 
to levity ? Are they marked by that order, and decorum, 
and reverence, which God requires in every thing connect- 
ed with his worship ? Is there the absence of all ostenta- 
tion, of all pious fraud, of all unhallowed severity ; and is 
there godly simplicity, and Christian honesty, and sincere 
affection ? If these be the characteristics of the measures 
proposed, then you may safely adopt them ; but if any of 
these characteristics are wanting, they are not in accord- 
ance with the spirit of the gospel, and you cannot con- 
sistently, in any way, give them your sanction. 

But it may be asked whether there is not a much better 
test than this ; whether the effect produced by particular 
measures does not more clearly determine their character ? 
I answer, if the entire and ultimate effect be intended, the 
standard which it furnishes will always be in consistency 
with that to which we have just referred ; though it must 
after all furnish an inadequate rule for judging ; for in many 
cases at least, it is so general in its character, that it is not 
easy to be traced. If only the immediate d^ndi partial effect 
be intended, then I insist that this is no standard at all ; for 
it admits not of question that there may be a violent reli- 



LECTURE V. 119 

gious excitement which, at the moment, may seem to 
many to be doing good, which, nevertheless may pass 
over like a hurricane in the natural world, marking its 
course with the wrecks even of God's own institutions. — 
Judge not then by this uncertain standard. If you are to 
judge of any great change by effects, you must wait till 
they are fully developed, till you can see not only the more 
immediate but the more remote effects ; the latter of which 
are often the most important ; and these are usually deve- 
loped gradually. Hold fast then to the law and the testi- 
mony as your rule of judging ; and as, in so doing, you will 
honor God most, so you will be most likely to be kept out 
of the mazes of error. 

2. Our subject may assist us to discover the cause of the 
decline of a revival, 

I admit that there is more or less of sovereignty here ; 
and that the Spirit of God operates whenever and wher- 
ever, in infinite wisdom, he pleases. I acknowledge too 
that the strong excitement which often attends a revival 
cannot, so far as respects the same individuals, be kept up 
for a long time ; nor is it at all essential, or even desirable, 
that it should be. But so far as a healthful and vigorous 
state of religious feeling is connected on the part of Christ- 
ians, and I may add, in view of the promises of God to 
answer prayer, so far as the conversion of sinners is con- 
cerned, it is not irreverent to say, that while he is himself 
the great agent, he commits his work in an important 
sense, into the hands of his people ; and if it decline, there 
is blame resting upon them. It is because they have 
grown weary in their supplications, or because they have 
relaxed in the use of some other of the means which he 
has put within their reach. Let Christians then tremble 
in view of their responsibility ; and when God is sending 
down his Spirit to work with them, let them take heed 



120 LECTURE V. 

that they render a hearty and persevering co-operation. 
Let them take heed that they grieve not this divine agent 
to depart either from their own souls, lest they should be 
given up to barrenness ; or from the souls of inquiring 
sinners, lest there should fall upon them the curse of repro- 
bation. 

3. Once more : Hoiv great is the privilege and the honor 
which Christians enjoy^ of being permitted to co-operate 
with God in carrying forward his work. 

When you are laboring for the salvation of sinners around 
you, when you are using the various means which God 
has put into your hands to waken them to conviction and 
bring them to repentance, you are laboring in the very 
cause which is identified with the success and the glory of 
Christ^s mediation. Nay, you are a fellow worker with 
the Holy Ghost ; and while he honors your efforts with his 
saving blessing, they are set down to your account in the 
book of God's remembrance. Yes, Christians, all that you 
do in this cause brings glory to God in the highest, contri- 
butes to brighten your immortal crown, and subserves the 
great cause of man's salvation. What remains then but 
that you take these considerations to your heart as so 
many arguments, to labor in this holy cause with more 
untiring zeal, with more holy fidelity ? Is it a cause that 
demands sacrifices ? You can well afford to make them, 
for it brings happiness, and glory, and honor in its train. 
Let it be seen on earth, and let the angels report it in 
heaven, that you are co-workers with God, in giving effect 
to the purposes of his grace, and in training up immortal 
souls for the glories of his kingdom. 



LECTURE VI, 

TREATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS, 
ACTS iii. 19 

Repent ye therefor^e, and be converted. 

There is scarcely a period of so much interest in the 
life of an individual, as that in which he is brought to 
earnest inquiry respecting the salvation of his soul. It is 
a state of naind which comes between the utter neglect of 
religion and the actual possession of it. The dream of 
thoughtlessness is disturbed. Conscience wakes to its 
office as an accuser. This world holds the soul with an 
enfeebled grasp, and the realities of another weigh upon it 
with deep and awful impression. But then, on the other 
hand, there is as yet no submission to the terms of the 
gospel ; no melting down in penitence at the feet of mercy ; 
no yielding up of the heart to God ; no thankful, cordial 
acceptance of Christ and his salvation. But between these 
two states of mind there is no uniform connection; for 
though conviction is essential to conversion, yet the sinner 
who is only convinced, may, instead of being converted, 
return to the world, and thus his last state be worse than 
his first. It is reasonable to suppose, in any given case of 
conviction, that the sinner who is the subject of it, is on the 
eve of having his destiny decided for eternity : for if he 
press forward, he secures his salvation ; but if he linger 
and fall back, there is, to say the least, an awful uncer- 
tainty whether he is ever again the subject of an awakening 
influence. 



122 LECTURE VI. 

Now you will readily perceive that it is a most respoti 
sible office to counsel a^d direct an individual in these in- 
teresting circumstances. The mind is in a state to be 
most easily influenced ; and influenced on a subject that 
involves all the interests of eternity : there is a sort of ba- 
lancing of the soul between religion and the world, between 
heaven and hell ; and no one can be certain that the weight 
of a single remark may not turn the scale one way or the 
other. Of what vast importance is it that all the suggest- 
ions and counsels that are offered at such a time should be 
scriptural — seasonable — the very instructions of the Holy 
Ghost. 

But if it be a responsible office for an individual to direct 
a single inquiring sinner, what shall be said of the respon-" 
sibility of the church during a revival of religion ; in which 
there are many, on every side, pressing the inquiry, '' what 
they shall do to be saved ?" And how important is it that 
members of the church should be so enlightened as to be 
safe guides on this momentous subject ; that thus they 
may never put in still greater jeopardy the interests of those 
whom they attempt to direct. A large part of the conduct 
of a revival consists in counselling the awakened ; and 
on the manner in which this duty is performed, as much 
as any thing, depend both the character of the work and 
its results. It is proper, therefore, that in a series of dis- 
courses like the present, this should be made a distinct and 
prominent topic ; and this is what I am about to bring be- 
fore you for our present exercise. 

The direction which the Apostle in our text gives to the 
Jews — that they should repent and be converted — is ap- 
plicable to sinners of every description ; and especially to 
those who are in any measure awakened. It is proper to 
direct every inquiring sinner to repent and turn to God in 
a way of holy obedience ; and this may be considered an 



LECTURE VI. 123 

epitome of all appropriate teaching in such circumstances ; 
nevertheless this direction is to be given in a variety of 
formSj adapted to a diversity of cases, and accompanied 
with many cautions and admonitions. My design will be, 

I. To consider in general the treatment due to an awa- 
kened sinner : and 

II. To contemplate some of the most prominent cases 
ivhich require more special counsel and instruction. 

I. I am to present before you the general course proper 
to he taken with an awakened sinner. 

When a person in these circumstances comes to ask 
your counsel, the first thing you have to determine is, 
what is his amount of knowledge^ and his amount of feeling. 

It is possible that he may have much feeling, and little 
knowledge. He may have learned so much of God's law, 
as to have wakened up his t^onscience, and brought him to 
a sense of danger, and made him tremble in anticipation of 
a fearful hell. But his knowledge even of the law may be 
very limited ; and how to secure the forgiveness of his sins, 
and an escape from the tremendoas doom that threatens 
him, he may be utterly ignorant. Of the nature of the 
gospel salvation, of the conditions on which it is offered, of 
the repentance of sin , of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
of the life of holy obedience, he may know almost literally 
nothing. Possibly his habits of life may have rendered 
him a voluntary exile from the means of religious know- 
ledge ; but it is by no means certain that he may not have 
been a regular attendant on Christian institutions ; for facts 
prove that it is possible for an individual to sit under the 
faithful preaching of the gospel during a long life, and yet 
to hear with such entire inattention, that there is gained 
no distinct knowledge of any one of the doctrines of the 
Bible. Yes, it has often happened in respect to men of 
general intelligence, and high worldly consideration, that 



124 LECTURE VL 

when they have been awakened, they have themselves 
acknowledged that they were entirely ignorant of Bible 
truth ; and with all their talents, and learning, and matu- 
rity, have had to begin at the very alphabet of the gospel. 
Now wherever you discover in an anxious sinner such 
gross ignorance, whether he be a man of high or low de- 
gree, your first business should be to instruct him. And 
let your instritetions be characterized by the utmost plain- 
ness ; for a mind to which the subject of religion is in a 
great degree new, (no matter how familiar it may be with 
other subjects,) will find it difficult to apprehend the truth, 
unless it is presented in its most simple form. Teach him 
what God has done for his salvation ; and what God re- 
quires him to do ; and the reasonableness of that require- 
ment ; and the necessity of its being complied with. It 
may be necessary, in some cas^, that these things should 
be presented in difierent forms, and by a succession of 
efforts, before they come to be fairly understood : neverthe- 
less, it were wrong to withhold any thing that is essential 
to salvation, on the ground that the mind is not thoroughly 
enlightened in all those truths which have the precedence 
in the order of nature ; for if you leave an awakened sinner 
without having set Christ distinctly before him, as the only 
foundation of hope, and without having taught him in what 
manner the benefits of redemption may be secured, before 
you see him again, he may have been brought to a stand 
by not knowing what to do, and may have actually settled 
do^A^n with a determination that he will do nothing. Or " 
else your next meeting with him may be at the judgment * 
and you may be compelled to reflect that the last opportu- 
nity which was enjoyed on earth of directing him to the 
cross of Christ, you enjoyed, but neglected. 

It is possible, on the other hand, that you may find a 
good degree of knowledge, and comparatively little feeling. 



LECTURE VI. 125 

There may even be a correct and intelligent view of all 
the evidence and doctrines of the gospel, which has resulted 
from laborious, critical, and long continued examination ; — 
there may be an ability rarely to be met with to confound 
sceptics and gainsayers • and yet the impression of divine 
truth may be feeble, and the conscience only partially 
awake. There may be conviction enough to bring the 
sinner to you for counsel, when there is not enough to bring 
him to Christ for salvation. In this casCj your duty mani- 
festly is, to endeavor to impress more deeply upon his mind 
the truths which he understands atid admits ; to bring him 
to examine his heart more closely by the searching light 
of God's law • and to look at every doctrine in its practical 
bearings in connection with his own character and destiny. 
The amount of conviction necessary to conversion may 
vary in different cases, according to the character of the 
mind, and its previous opportunities for acquiring religious 
knowledge ; but conviction there must be in every case; 
and wherever it is feeble and wavering, it is fair to presume, 
that something more is necessary in this way in order to 
bring the soul to rest upon its Saviour. 

The awakened sinner may be benefited by some such 
counsels and cautions as the following ;— - 

Let him be admonished, first of all, that the duty of 
devoting himself to God by a complioMce with the terms of 
the gospelj is of immediate obligation ; and that he is guilty^ 
and becoming more and more guilty^ in the neglect of it. 
For is not this duty reasonable ? Is it not due to God as a 
Creator, as a Preserver, and especially as a Redeemer, 
that every human being should love him with all his affec- 
tions, and serve him to the extent of his powers ? And if 
the sinner has never done this hitherto, nay, if he has never 
ceased from a course of rebellion against God, and has not 
performed a single act from a regard to his authority, 

14 



126 LECtURiS Vl. 

surely is reasonable that he should change his course 
without delay ; that he should at once wake, not only to 
a sense, but to a performance, of the duties which God 
requires of him. Would it be right that a child who had 
broken away from parental restraints, and set at naught 
parental love, when pressed to submit to a father's autho- 
rity, and return to a father's arms, should plead that he 
had not woimded and insulted that father as long as he 
wished ; and that though he felt the obligation to yield, 
yet he did not consider it as binding him to do so immedi- 
ately ? Would it be right for a rebel, when urged to throw 
down arms against a wise and benevolent sovereign, to 
acknowledge the reasonableness of the requisition for a 
future day, but to deny it in respect to the present ? Let 
not the sinner then dream that he has any excuse for con- 
tinuing unreconciled to God for an hour. Press him with 
the obligation of immediate repentance, and faith, and sub- 
mission to God. Endeavor to make him feel that apart 
from all considerations of personal interest, this is a duty 
which he owes to God, and which ought to press upon 
him with the weight of a mountain, until he has dis- 
charged it. 

Let the awakened sinner be admonished farther that- 
the present is the best time for securing his souFs salvation. 
For then theie are facilities for becoming religious which 
do not exist at any other period. Supposing him, as I 
here do, to be in the midst of a revival, there is an energy 
and efficiency in all the means of grace which is, to a great 
extent, peculiar to such a scene. Ministers aie encouraged 
to preach with unaccustomed earnestness, and are enabled 
to bring out the truth of God with great pungency and 
effect. Christians too pray with unwonted fervor, and 
converse with peculiar fidelity ; and there is the current of 
example setting strongly in favor of religion ; and the very 



LECTURE vi: 127 

atmosphere around seems to be pervaded by deep solemni- 
ty ; and with all this the sinner's own attention is awake ; 
and the Holy Spirit is striving with him to bring him to 
repentance. Let him be inquired of what circumstances 
can exist more favorable to his conversion than now exist. 
Let him be reminded that he has no reason to expect that 
such an assemblage of circumstances will again occur in 
the course of his life ; and that even if they should, the 
same disposition which would lead him to resist the Spirit 
now, might lead him to resist it then. Dwell upon the 
appalling fact, that trifling with divine influences must 
serve greatly to harden the heart ; and that if he return to 
the world from the point which he has now gained, he 
will in all probability, go back to a point of obduracy at 
which he will be left, without any farther divine interposi- 
tion, to take his own way down to the chambers of eternal 
death. 

Admonish him, farther, that he is in danger^ from vari- 
ous causes J of losing his serious impressions. This is a point 
in relation to which he may not improbably think himself 
safe ; and though he may not be able to anticipate any fa- 
vorable result of his convictions, yet so pungent and over- 
whelming are they, that he cannot realize that there is any 
danger of their leaving him. But even the strongest reli- 
gious impressions are sometimes driven awaj?^ from the soul 
almost in an hour ; though in general the process is a gra- 
dual and almost imperceptible one. Admonish him to be- 
ware of the levities of the world ; for one light conversation 
with a careless friend, may change decisively the current of 
his thoughts. Guard him against the influence of worldly 
care^ — even of his necessary daily employments ; for any 
thing of a mere worldly nature that occupies the mind, is 
liable to turn it oflf from the great subject of salvation. 
Caution him, also, against yielding to a false shame ; for this 



128 LECTURE Vf, 

cannot long prevail without grieving away the Holy Spirit, 
Urge upon him, the importance of holding God's truth to 
his mind as constantly as possible, that thus the impressions 
which have already been made by it, may have no oppor- 
tunity to escape. And to give the greatest effect to all 
these cautioi:is, point him to examples in the way of illus- 
trating them ; and let him know that there are multitudes 
now in the ranks of profligacy and infidelity, who once evep 
trembled under the awakening influences of God's Spirit. 
In view of the tremendous evil Avhich must result from the 
departure of this divine agent from the soul on the one hand, 
and of the ease with which he may be grieved away on the 
other, you are to ring a monitory peal in the ear of the awa- 
kened sinner, adapted to make him cherish his impressions 
with the most watchful diligence. 

And then, again, you are to put him on his guard 
agmnst seeking salvation in a spirit of self -righteousness > 
There is no natural predilection in man for the gospel plan 
of salvation : on the contrary, there is a strong original bias 
in favor of being saved by the deeds of the law : though un- 
happily there is no disposition to perform the deeds which 
the law requires. Hence the sinner, when he is first awa- 
kened, almost always puts himself upon a course of self- 
righteous effort ; and practically asks with the young man 
in the gospel, -'what good thing he shall do that he may 
inherit eternal life." He forthwith begins an attendance up- 
on all the means of grace, if he has neglected them before, 
or if he has been accustomed to attend upon them, he does 
it now with an increased degree of seriousness. He listens 
attentively to God's word ; is found in the meeting for social 
prayer, and religious conference ; passes much time in his 
closet, and in conversing with Christian friends : and in 
short, aims to perform externally every duty which God re- 
quires of him. And in all this the secret feehng of his 



LECTURE VI. 129 

heart is, even though he may not always be sensible of it, 
that he is performing something meritorious, which will 
catch and please the eye of God, and cause his name to be 
enrolled in the Lamb's book of life. Now it devolves upon 
you carefully to guard him against this error ; for so long 
as it is retained, it must be an effectual barrier to a compli- 
ance with the terms of the gospel. Do not discourage him 
from striving ; but admonish him to strive in the spirit of 
the new covenant, and not of the old. Tell him that there 
is no merit in any of his striving, and that he can never be 
saved till he becomes convinced of this, and falls down help- 
less at the feet of mercy, and is willing to accept of salvation 
as a gift of God through Christ, without any respect to his 
own deservings. The mistake to which 1 here refer may 
be made by those who speculatively understand the way 
of salvation, as well as those who do not ; and the only 
means by which it is discovered, is faithful communion with 
one's own heart. To the duty of self-communion then, with 
special reference to this point, every inquiring sinner should 
be earnestly exhorted. 

Counsel him, moreover, to beware of making comfort 
rather than duty an ultimate end. A state of conviction is 
a state of anxiety and alarm, and of course unhappiness. 
As the sinner, from the very constitution of his nature, 
desires happiness, it is not strange that in the agony of 
conviction he should often fasten his eye upon that as an 
ultimate object ; though nothing is more certain than that, 
so long as he pursues it as such, true religious comfort 
will never be attained. In doing this, he places himself 
before God merely as a sufferer desiring to be relieved from 
distress ; whereas, the attitude which he ought to assume 
is that of a guilty offender, acknowledging and forsaking 
his evil courses, and turning unto the Lord. What God 
requires of him is the discharge of duty ; repentance, faith, 

14* 



130 LECTURE VI. 

obedience ; and in this way only has he a right either to 
seek or to expect comfort. He is to regard himself first as 
a sinner, and then as a suiFerer : if he repent of his sins he 
has reason to expect relief from his sufferings ; but if he 
hold fast his sins, how much soever he may supplicate 
God's mercy, he will either experience no relief, or none 
which he ought to desire. He must understand that it is 
the economy of God's grace that true Christian comfort 
can never be gained except as it is made a secondary con- 
sideration. He must keep his eye constantly fixed on 
duty : he must stir himself up to do what God requires of 
him*; and God will take care that he is no stranger to the 
joys of his salvation. 

It may be well to ca^ution him also against seeking aid 
from too many advisers ; especially where their religious 
vieivs do not harmonize. There are among Christians, we 
all know, shades of difference in their views of the truths 
of the gospel ; and though they all hold the Head, and 
recognize each other as members of the same family, yet 
on some minor points they do not speak the same language ; 
and indeed, though the real difference may not be great, 
yet they may differ ia their phraseology even in respect to 
the essentials of religion ; and may be accustomed to con- 
template these great truths in different relations and com- 
binations. The consequence of this may be that several 
persons who are really agreed on all fundamental doctrines, 
may counsel an awakened sinner, each in his own way, 
and each substantially in the right way ; and yet there 
may be, after all, to his apprehension, a disagreement, 
which may be the source of much painful perplexity. His 
mind will be liable to become confused by the variety of 
directions which he receives ; and will be far less likely to 
profit by any, than if this confusion had been avoided. It 
were better for the awakened sinner that he should have a 



LECTURE VI. 131 

single judicious counsellor, or at the extent a few such, 
than to be soliciting or receiving the advice of every one 
indiscriminately. 

I add, once more, that he should be advised to pass 
much of his time in the closet. It is proper, indeed, that he 
should avail himself of frequent opportunities to hear the 
preaching of God's word ; and that he should mingle in 
the social prayer meeting ; and should receive appropriate 
counsels and instructions from Christian friends ; but this 
can never take the place of private meditation and self- 
communion. The searching and probing of his own heart, 
and the recollection of his sins, is a work peculiarly for the 
closet ; because there the mind is least likely to be diverted 
by external objects and circumstances. I know there is a 
strong tendency in most persons who are awakened, to 
mingle continually in public religious exercises. This 
may be the easiest, but it is not the safest or most desirable 
course. I do not say that many who adopt it do not be- 
come true Christians ; but, to me at least, it appears that 
there is more' danger of a spurious conversion, or if it be not 
spurious, that the principle of spiritual life will be feeble 
and sickly, than if there had been more of that knowledge 
of the hidden abominations of the heart, which is to be ac- 
quired especially by private self-examination. 

While you are giving to the awakened sinner these va- 
rious directions, you can hardly repeat too often the caution 
that he should not mistake the design of the means which 
you are recommending. Let him understand clearly that 
the only end to be answered by them, so far as respects 
himself, is to bring him to the conviction that he is all pol- 
lution, and guilt, and unworthiness ; and that he can do 
nothing toward his salvation but throw himself into the 
arms of sovereign mercy. When he is brought to this 
state of mind, means have done all that they can do for 



132 LECTURE vr. 

him as an impenitent sinner ; and if, instead of yielding 
himself up to God, he goes on still in the use of means, 
there is great reason to fear that they will prove the stum- 
bling block over vv^hich he will fall into perdition. 

II. Having now marked out a general course of treat- 
ment adapted to an awakened sinner, I proceed, secondly, 
to contemplate some of the great variety of caaes which 
require more special counsel and instruction. 

Suppose the sinner says that, though he is aware that 
his case is as bad as you represent it, yet he can do nothing 
to render it any better^ and therefore must be contented to 
remain where he is. You are to endeavor, in the first 
place, to convince him, by a direct appeal to his conscience, 
that the inability under which he labors is nothing more 
than a settled aversion of the heart from God ; and there- 
fore is entirely without excuse. Let him see that he has 
all the powers of a moral agent ; that he has a conscience 
to distinguish between right and wrong, and a will by 
w^hich he may choose the one and refuse the other. Let 
him see that in withholding his heart from God, he is as 
free as in any other course of action ; and therefore blame- 
worthy ; and therefore condemned in the plea which he 
sets up for doing nothing. 

But let it be admitted, as it certainly must be, that every 
sinner, if left to himself, will perish ; that though the ina- 
bility is of a guilty sort, yet it really does prevail , still you 
are to show the awakened sinner that this is nothing to 
him in the way of discouragement, for he is not left to him- 
self: the Holy Spirit has already come to his aid ; and is 
offering not only to convince him of guilt, but to renew 
him to repentance. What if it be true that, by his unas- 
sisted powers, he will never enter in at the straight gate, 
yet so long as the almighty energy of divine grace is ac- 
tually proffered to his assistance, how can he stand still 



LECTURE VI. 133 

on the plea of inability ? Let the sinner bring his own 
powers into exercise to the utmost, and he need have no 
fear but that God will work within him both to will and 
to do, to secure his salvation. 

But suppose he should say that he has made thorough 
trial of his own powers^ and yet has accomplished nothing 
— Let him be inquired of, in what manner he has been 
striving ? Is it not more than possible that the secret of 
his ill success lies in the fact that he has been trying to do 
too much ; or rather that he has done nothing with a right 
spirit ; that the influence of all his exertions has been neu- 
tralized by the self-righteous notion of merit being attached 
to them ? Or may not his striving have been inconstant ; 
frequently interrupted by the cares of the world ; and never 
so earnest as the object of it demands ? But suppose it 
really appears to him on reflection that he has done all 
that he can do — inasmuch as the interests of his eternity 
are suspended on the result, he surely will not think it 
prudent to adopt a course which he knows must land him 
in perdition. If he give up all effort, his case is certainly 
hopeless : if he continue to strive, he can hut perish ; and 
he may be saved. It were better that he should sacrifice 
a thousand worlds, were they in his possession, than to 
forego the possibility, if there were nothing more, of his 
escaping hell and obtaining heaven. 

But what if he should plead still farther, as a ground of 
discouragement, that many of his friends who were awakened 
at the same time with himself have apparently given them- 
selves to the Saviour^ and are rejoicing in hope ; and that 
hence he has no reason to believe that there is any mercy 
for him — Answer this plea by showing that God has given 
the same powers of moral agency to him as to them ; that 
he has made the same gracious provision for him as for 
them; and that in both cases the oflfer is equally free, 



lU LECTURE VI. 

equally sincere. Remind him that God has no where 
promised that he shall have the comforts of a good hope 
at any particular time, but he has promised that they who 
seek him in a proper manner shall find ; and that promise 
he will certainly fulfil. If his friends have come into the 
kingdom before him, instead of ministering to his discou- 
ragement, let it be an argument with him to press forward ; 
for He who had compassion on others is equally ready to 
extend compassion to him. 

But suppose the sinner allege as another ground of dis- 
couragement the doctrine of election ; presuming that he 
is not among the elect, and therefore all efforts to secure 
his salvation must be in vain. Take care that, in reply to 
this, you say nothing to bring this doctrine into question. 
Instead of even seeming to doubt it, or to treat it as if it 
were a mere speculation, admit it, prove it, and show that 
if it be not true, God has not spoken plainly in his word, 
and that he does not even exercise a providence. But 
show him, at the same time, that the secret purposes of 
God do not in the least infringe the moral agency of man. 
Appeal to his own consciousness for the truth of this ; and 
then confess to him your ignorance of the manner in which 
these two doctrines harmonize ; and at the same time ex- 
pose to him the folly of rejecting any truth which is sus- 
ceptible of absolute proof, only because we cannot discover 
its harmony with some other truth which is no less clearly 
proved. And you may go farther still, and show him that 
this very doctrine of election, when rightlj^ understood, so 
far from being a discouraging doctrine, lies near the foun- 
dation of the sinner's hope ; for if all, when left to them- 
selves, are inclined to reject salvation, where is there hope 
for any, independently of God's sovereign grace ? But 
this is nothing more nor less than the scripture doctrine of 
election. 



LECTURE VI. 135 

If however, the sinner, under the influence of an awa» 
kened conscience, should be disposed to indulge in cavils 
respecting this or any other doctrine, it were better not to 
attempt to follow him. The safest course in such a case, 
were to appeal from the speculations of his understanding, 
to the honest dictates of his conscience. If you undertake 
to answer all his objections, and do not answer them to his 
satisfaction, he may regard your supposed defeat as proving 
the weakness of the cause you have attempted to defend ; 
and in this miserable delusion he may find a refuge from 
his convictions. Or let the result of your conversation 
with him, in this respect, be as it may, the verj- fact of his 
being engaged in such a dispute, would be fitted to diminish 
his anxiety, and not improbably might be the fiist step in 
his return to his accustomed carelessness. 

Suppose the sinner s/iow/rf complain of g^^eat insensi- 
bility ^ and should express an earnest desire that he might 
have more pungent convictions— While you endeavor to 
keep his thoughts fastened upon those great truths which 
are most fitted to convince and to dissolve, such as the 
holiness of God, the perfection of his lavv^, the deep depra- 
vity of the heart, and the compassion and grace of a dying 
Saviour, you are to institute a faithful inquiry as to the 
ground of this desire ; and it is not improbable that you will 
discover that its leading element is self righteousness ; that 
the sinner desires conviction because he imagines that there 
will be something of merit in it, to recommend him to the 
divine favor. He may not, indeed, be sensible of this, and 
it may not be easy to convince him of it ; for so deceitful is 
the heart, and so busy is the adversary, at such a moment, 
that inquiring sinners are exceedingly apt to mistake their 
own feelings ; but wherever you discover any evidences of 
the workings of this spirit, you must endeavor, if possible, 
to make the individual perceive it, that he may escape from 



136 LECTURE VI. 

its influence. Let him fully understand that he is just as 
depraved, just as worthy of eternal death in the sight of 
God, when he is in an agony of conviction, as he was in 
the depth of his carnal security ; — that the difference in the 
two cases is precisely the difference that exists between 
two criminals who are sentenced to die, one of whom views 
the reality of his condition, and anticipates with horror the 
appalling scene of execution : while the other, in the confi- 
dent expectation of a pardon, gives himself up to absolute 
unconcern. Let him see that in conviction he only looks at 
himself as he is ; and let his own conscience decide whether 
there can be any merit in merely beholding his guilt. 
The man who is convinced that his house is on fire, and 
that he shall be burnt to death, if he remain in it, will 
make a hasty escape ; and his conviction of danger will 
have brought him to it; though no one would say that 
there was any thing of merit in that conviction. In like 
manner, the sinner who is effectually convinced that he 
must perish if he remains impenitent, and that he can be 
saved only by the free grace of God in Christ, actually 
throws himself a guilty and helpless creature into his 
Saviour's arms ; and it is the conviction he has of his ruin 
that leads him to do this ; but will the sinner himself say 
that there is more of merit in this case than in the other ? 

Suppose the sinner to be sinking down under the burden 
of his guilt into a state of despair ^ with an impression that 
his sins have been so aggravated that mercy cannot be 
extended to him — what you have to do in this case is to 
give him juster views of the gospel. He has particularly 
lost sight of the truth that the blood of Christ cleanseth 
from all sin ; and this is the doctrine which you are to hold 
up to him in all its extent and glory. Bring to his mind 
God's own declarations, that he is able and willing to save 
all that come unto him ; that whosoever believeth on the 



LECTURE VL 137 

Son hath everlasting life ; and whosoever will may come 
and take the water of life freely. Tell him that a bloody 
Manassah and a persecuting Sanl, and even some of the 
murderers of the Son of God, have obtained mercy ; and if 
he will have it that his guilt is more aggravated than 
theirs, urge upon him the fact that there is a boundlessness 
in the compassions of God, and an infinite value in the 
blood of Christ, which no measure of guilt and pollution can 
possibly transcend. Dwell moreover on the wonderful 
consideration that, as God is glorified in the forgiveness of 
every penitent sinner, so he is most glorified in the forgive- 
ness of the greatest sinners ; for then each of his moral 
perfections, and especially his grace, shines forth with the 
brightest lustre ; and hence it is the privilege of the peni- 
tent to urge the greatness of his guilt before God, as an 
argument for his being forgiven. Endeavor to make him 
realize that if his guilt, instead of having risen to the height 
of a mountain, had been limited to a single transgression, 
he could never have atoned for it by any exertions or suf- 
ferings of his own ; but that the sacrifice which Christ has 
offered, forbids him to despair, notwithstanding his guilt 
appears so appalling. His eye has been already fixed long 
enough exclusively upon his guilt : it is time that it should 
be turned away to the cross of Christ. Hold him, if you 
can, to the blessed gospel. Let him see the richness, the 
preciousness, the freeness of its provision ; that it exactly 
meets the exigencies of those who feel that they are great 
sinners, and can do nothing but sink away into the arms 
of mercy. Admonish him, moreover, that despair is in 
itself a sin of fearful magnitude ; that though it may excite 
the compassion of man, it awakens the abhorrence of God ; 
that one of its primary elements is cold distrust of the 
offers and promises of the gospel ; and that the indulgence 
of it is only putting the soul at a more awful distance from 

15 



138 LECTURE VI. 

Christ, and clouding still more deeply the prospect of its 
salvation. 

Suppose the sinner to become impressed with the idea 
that he has had no conviction ofsin^ and that all that he 
supposed to be conviction was delusion ; when at the same 
time he furnishes the most conclusive evidence that he is 
really a subject of powerful divine operation- — in a case of 
this kind, I would endeavor to convince him, what is be- 
yond all peradventure true — that the adversary is at work, 
trying to drive away his convictions, by making him believe 
that he has none. I would show him how reasonable it 
were to expect that it'should be so ; — that the great enemy 
of all good should be upon the alert, in the use of his wiles, 
when he sees that he is in danger of losing one of his sub- 
jects. And I would refer to the experience of many others, 
who have passed through similar trials, and who have at 
length become fully satisfied that they were suffering 
under a delusion, which was the effect of satanic influence. ; 
And when the point is once gained, that the sinner really 
believes that this impression in respect to his having no 
convictions is from below, he is prepared to resign it, and 
the delusion vanishes. 

It may be useful sometimes, in order to correct his views 
on this subject, to set him to account for his own unhap- 
piness on the ground that he has no conviction. The fact 
that he has no peace, that he is even wretched, he will be 
willing enough to acknowledge. He is not as he was in 
other days, when his spirits were gay and buoyant, and no 
thoughts concerning the salvation of his soul ever rose in 
his mind. There is some cause in operation now, which 
did not operate then ; else there would have been no change 
in his feelings — no change in his conduct. Suppose he 
could exclude the subject of religion from his thoughts ; — 
suppose he could regard it with the same indifference he 



LECTURE VI. 139 

formerly did ; — suppose he could revert to the former im- 
pression that there was little or no danger in his case ; — 
and would not all the unhappiness which he now feels 
instantly fly away ? If he reflects, will he not acknow- 
ledge that this would be the case ? Let him say then what 
else it is than the conviction that he is a sinner, that dis- 
turbs the peace of his mind ? If he had no conviction of 
the truth of religion, and of the interest which he has in it, 
and of his exposure to the woes of perdition in consequence 
of having offended God, why is it that he is thrown into a 
state of wretchedness from which he would give the world, 
if it were at his command, to be delivered ? 

But if the awakened sinner persevere in the mistaken 
notion that he has no conviction, I know of no other course 
than to hold up to his view those great truths which are 
fitted to produce it. If he will have it that he has hitherto 
had no just sense of sin, we can only proclaim to him the 
evil of sin, and point him to the fountain that is opened for 
sin and uncleanness. It is desirable, however, in such 
cases, to dwell chiefly on the glorious provision of the 
gospel ; for though the soul is unwilling to admit that it 
feels its need, yet it actually does realize it ; and if Christ 
be continually held up, it may let go its favorite delusion 
long enough to embrace him ; and when Christ is really 
received, the delusion is gone for ever. 

There is yet one more attitude in which we may con- 
template the awakened sinner — I mean as gradually fall- 
ing under the power of a settled melancholy. As this is an 
evil greatly to be deprecated, so the very first tendencies 
to it, ought if possible, to be promptly counteracted ; for 
unless it be early checked, it may soon become habitual, 
and may lead to the most disastrous and even fatal results. 
Wherever this state of mind exists in connection with the 
subject of religion, it will usually be found to have been 



140 LECTURE VI. 

occasioned by an erroneous view of some particular truth. 
It is a matter of much importance therefore to ascertain 
what is the error to which the individual is yielding him- 
self; and this may ordinarily be done by close and diligent 
inquiry. It is, however, often more easy to ascertain the 
error than to remiOve it ; for the very fact that it operates 
so powerful as to destroy, in some measure, the balance 
among the faculties, proves that it has gained a strong 
bold of the mind, and is not probably to be dislodged by 
any feeble effort. In attempting to remove it, it is often 
wisest to avoid coming, at oncQ, to the point ; lest the mind 
should take the alarm, and put itself into the attitude of 
defence. Let the effort be directed first to impress upon 
the disordered intellect some of the great truths which it 
may not be disposed to question, but which are utterly in- 
consistent with the notion which has plunged it into gloom; 
and let it be left, in some measure, to its own reflections 
and conclusions ; and when the particular error is ap- 
proached, let it be in an easy and delicate, and not in a 
harsh and revolting manner ; and there is good reason to 
hope that it may be delivered from its bondage to the error, 
and thus the clouds of melancholy may go off, and light, 
and peace, and comfort, may succeed. 

It sometimes happens that the calamity of which I am 
speaking is connected with great physical derangement ; 
and that it would never have existed, but for some predispo- 
sing cause in the bodily system. In this case, the mind 
and body have a mutual action and re-action upon each 
other ; — the mind becoming more gloomy on account of the 
disease of the body ; and the body more diseased on ac- 
count of the gloom of the mind. Sometimes important 
benefit may be derived from medical aid, and still more fre- 
quently perhaps from gentle relaxation and exercise. It 
has not unfrequently happened that change of scenery, 



LECTURE VI, 141 

change of surrounding objects, change of daily associates, 
has helped to restore the health of the body, while it has 
contributed in the same degree to bring back the balance of 
the mind. 

There is one caution which ought always to be dili- 
gently observed, but which there is reason to fear is too often 
overlooked, in the treatment of a person in these painful 
circumstances — I refer to the fact that no measures should 
be taken which are fitted to carry his mind ultimately away 
from religion. It is not uncommon for those whose friends 
have fallen into this state, to manifest a strong disposition 
to separate them from all religious influences ; to divorce 
them from the company of Christians ; and to urge them 
into the society of the gay and thoughtless. But never 
was there a^Teater mistake. The contrast which, in that 
case, exists, between the world without and the world with- 
in ; between the cheerless and wretched state of the soul 
and the joyous bounding of hearts amidst the vanities of 
life, instead of relieving melancholy, is fitted to change it 
into agony. But if the point be ultimately gained by such 
a course, let me ask, what is it that is gained ? It is not 
merely relief from gloom ; but it is freedom from all concern 
for the soul. It is a deliberate rushing back upon the va- 
nities and gayeties of life. It is turning away the thoughts 
from God, and from Christ, and from salvation, in a man- 
ner which renders it extremely probable that they will ^ 
never in this world be seriously directed to these objects 
again ; at least not in circumstances in which reflection will 
be likely to be availing. If, instead of this violent course, 
there should be adopted one which should be fitted to break 
up gloomy associations, on the one hand, without driving 
away serious thought on the other ; which should surround 
the individual with cheerful and yet with religious influ- 
ences ; there might be just reason to hope that, in escaping 

15* 



142 LECTURE VI. 

from the dominion of melancholy, he would pass, not into 
the thoughtlessness of the world, but into the peace and 
joy of the true Christian. 

Two brief remarks, by way of inference, will conclude 
the discourse. 

1. Our subject exposes two opposite errors^ both ofivhich, 
it is believed^ are common, in the treatment of awakened 
sinners. 

The first is the error of those who limit themselves to 
the simple direction to repent, or believe, or submit to God. 
Any thing beyond this they consider as putting the sinner 
upon the use of the means of grace ; and they ask how 
they can consistently do this, when the sinner is liable to 
die every moment, and thus be alike beyond repentance 
and beyond mercy ? And then again, they say that all 
that he does while he remains impenitent is sinful ; and 
that by exhorting him to do any thing before repentance, 
they exhort him to sin. But it is not difficult to see where 
lies the mistake in this matter. Ail will admit that it is 
the duty of a sinner to repent without delay. But he can- 
not repent until he knows what repentance is, and until he 
understands those great truths in view of which repentance 
is exercised. And to this end, if he be ignorant, he must 
be instructed out of God's word ; either by reading the 
Bible himself, or hearing its truths presented by others ; 
in other words, he must be put upon the use of the means 
of grace. True it is that he may die before he has know- 
ledge enough to exercise evangelical repentance ; but even 
if it should be so, they who direct him are not responsible 
for the event ; because some degree of knowledge is essen- 
tial to repentance. And can it reasonably be said that 
any thing is sinful, which is necessarily involved in a com- 
pliance with God's command ? If he commands the sinner 
to repent, he commands him to do all that is necessary to 



LECTURE VI. 143 

enable him to repent ; and as some knowledge of his truth 
is necessary, if he do not possess it already, he is bound to 
gain it ; and surely there can be nothing in that to excite 
the divine displeasure. 

The other error is that of directing inquiring sinners to 
use the means of grace, without, at the same time, enfor- 
cing the obligation of immediate repentance. This direc- 
tion is fitted to abate a sense of guilt, and finally to bring 
back to the soul its accustomed spiritual torpor. One of 
two results from such a direction you may confidently ex- 
pect ; — either that the sinner will lull himself to sleep in 
the use of means, and will soon be disposed to abandon 
them, or else that he will put himself upon a course of 
self-righteous eflfort, and imagine that he is going rapidly 
towards heaven, when he has totally mistaken the path 
that leads thither. Means are nothing to an awakened 
sinner, except to bring before him those truths which are 
necessary to the exercise of repentance. To exhort him 
to the use of means with reference to any other end than 
this, were undoubtedly to mistake their design, and to 
expose him to be dangerously and fatally misled. 

Take heed then, brethren, that you avoid both these 
errors. Before you put off the sinner with the simple di- 
rection to repent, be sure that you are not speaking to him 
a language which he does not understand. Be sure that 
he understands those truths without a knowledge of which, 
your direction, though true and good, would leave him to 
grope in the dark. And on the other hand, when you 
direct him to study his Bible and attend on the various 
means of religious instruction, take care that you do not 
leave the impression that this is a substitute for repentance, 
instead of the means of it ; or at least that repentance will 
by and by come along in the train of these means without 
any more direct personal effort. In short, endeavor to put 



144 LECTURE VI. 

him in the best way for understanding those truths which 
are involved in the exercise of repentance ; but at the same 
time, let him distinctly know, that it is of such vital im- 
portance and such immediate obligation, that if he dies a 
stranger to it, he must reap the fruit of his neglect in a 
scene of interminable anguish, 

2. Finally : Our subject teaches us what are the best 
qualifications for directing and counselling awakened 
sinners. 

It is essential that a person who undertakes this office 
should have a good knowledge of Godls word ; for this is 
the great instrument by which the whole work is to be 
accomplished. It will not suffice that there should be a 
mere superficial acquaintance with divine truth ; but it 
should be deep and thorough : the doctrines of the Bible 
should be understood in their various bearings and connec- 
tions. There should also be an intimate knowledge of the 
human heart — the subject on which this work is to be 
performed. There should be an ability to guide the sinner 
in the work of self-examination ; to ferret sin out from its ' 
various lurking places ; to bring principles and motives to 
bear upon the various faculties and affections of the soul, 
with discrimination and good effect. In short, there should 
be an intelligent and devoted piety ; for this secures a 
knowledge of divine truth on the one hand, and an ac- 
quaintance with the springs of human conduct on the 
other. I hardly need say that the knowledge necessary 
to the right discharge of this office, is especially of an ex- 
perimental character ; for he who undertakes to direct an 
inquiring sinner in a path in which he has never walked, 
is as the blind leading the blind. A man may be destitute 
in a great degree of human learning, he may be a babe ia 
the wisdom of the world, and yet he may have that divine 
and spiritual knowledge which shall render him a compe- 



LECTURE VI. 145 

tent guide to inquiring souls. And on the other hand, he 
may be a proficient in every branch of human knowledge, 
he may have even studied thoroughly the philosophy of 
the mind, and the criticism of the Bible, and yet, from hav- 
ing never felt the power of divine truth upon his own heart, 
he may be a most unskilful and unsafe guide in the concern 
of the soul's salvation. 

Wherefore, Christian brethren, be exhorted to larger 
attainments both in knowledge and in piety. I might 
urge you to this on the ground that it will increase your 
comfort here, and brighten your crown hereafter. I might 
urge you to it also on the ground of general usefulness ; 
for there is no department of benevolent action for which 
such attainments would not better prepare you. But I 
exhort you noiv to aim at these attainments from the con- 
sideration that your lot is cast at a period, when much de- 
volves upon you in the way of directing inquiring souls ; 
and while on the one hand, they may keep you from being 
instrumental, even in your well-meant efforts, of great evil ; 
on the other, they may secure to you the blessing of ac- 
complishing great good. Go then. Christian, often into 
your closet, and study your own heart. Open God's 
blessed word, and apply yourself to its precious truths. 
Keep your soul constantly imbued with its spirit. Then 
the inquiring sinner may find in you a safe and skilful 
guide. Then you may hope that God will honor you as 
an instrument of saving souls from death, and hiding a 
multitude of sins. 



LECTURE VII. 



TREATMENT DUE TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 



S CORINTHIANS xiii. 5. 

Prove your own selves. 

This exhortation was addressed bj the Apostle to pro- 
fessed Christians. It takes for granted that they were not 
absolutely assured of their discipleship, and were liable to 
be deceived in the views which they formed respecting 
their own character. It enjoins the duty of referring their 
character to the proper test ; proving whether Christ is in 
them by the sanctifying influences of his Spirit, or whether ^ 
they are mere nominal Christians, finally to be cast off as 
reprobate. 

The advice contained in the text was addressed to the 
Corinthian church indiscriminately ; and it may properly 
apply to all Christians, without any reference to age or 
standing. It is, however, especially applicable to those 
who have just entered, or professedly entered, on the 
Christian life ; for if they mistake their own character then, 
there is reason to fear that the mistake will be fatal. It 
therefore becomes every minister, and every private 
Christian, who undertakes the office of a counsellor and > 
guide, during a revival of religion, to make much use of 
the exhortation — '^ Prove your own selves." 

It is, if I mistake not, becoming a somewhat popular 
notion, that nearly all the efforts which are made during a 



LECTURE VII. 147 

revival, should be directed to the awakening and conversion 
of sinners ; and that comparatively little attention is needed 
by those who have indulged the hope that they have be- 
come reconciled to God. Far be it from me to say, or to 
think, that too much is done to effect the former of these 
objects ; but I am constrained to believe that there is far 
too little done in reference to the latter. True it is that the 
sinner, while trembling under a conviction of guilt, is in 
circiiimstances of awful interest ; for if the Spirit of God 
depart from him, it may be the eternal death of his soul : 
but it is no less true, that the period of his first cherishing 
a hope in God's mercy is an exceedingly critical one ; for 
if he build on a sandy foundation, he may never discover 
it, until it slides from beneath him, and lets him into the pit. 
Let no Christian then imagine that his responsibility in 
connection with a revival terminates in the duty which he 
owes to awakened sinners : let him remember that there is 
another class who as truly claim his attention as they ; 
and who cannot be neglected but at the peril of encouraging 
self deception, and corrupting the purity of the church. 
Lend me your attention, therefore, while I endeavor in this 
discourse to exhibit an outline of the treatment which 

IS DUE TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN HOPEFULLY THE SUB- 
JECTS OF A RECENT CONVERSION. 

We will consider the object which ought to be kept in 
view ; and the means by which it may be most successfully 
accomplished. 

I. The object to be aimed at in all our treatment of those 
who hope they have been recently converted, is twofold : 
to save from self-deception^ and to build up faith and 
holiness. 

1 . To save from self-deception. 

That there is danger that many persons will practise 
deception upon themselves in these circumstances, must be 



148 LECTURE VII. 

obvious to any one who gives the subject the least consi- 
deration. For the mind is then in an excited state, when 
it is most liable to misjudge of its own exercises : and the 
heart has been burdened with anguish ; and has been long- 
ing for relief; and is prepared to welcome with transport 
the least evidence of pardon ; and of course is in danger of 
grasping at a shadow, and mistaking it for the substance. 
Besides, there is a chapter in the record of experience 
which teaches a most impressive lesson on this subject ^ 
which exhibits instances innumerable, of persons who have, 
for a season, felt confident of their own conversion, and 
have been hailed by Christians as fellow helpers in the 
work of the Lord, who have, nevertheless, subseqaently 
been convinced themselves, and forced the conviction upon 
others, that what they had called Christian experience 
was mere delusion. And while there is danger that self- 
deception will take place in these circumstances, no one can 
doubt that this is an evil greatly to be deprecated ; for there 
is comparatively little reason to hope, in any given case, 
that it will be removed ; and if it be not removed, it is in 
the very worst sense fatal. Surely then it devolves upon 
all who are active in conducting a revival of religion, to 
guard those who hope they have been recently converted, 
against self-deception. Even amidst all the peace and 
rapture which they may experience, in connection with 
what they suppose to be a conversion to God, it is the duty 
of those who counsel them, though they may rejoice in 
their joy, to rejoice with trembling, lest it should prove that 
the hope with which their joy is connected, should be the 
hope of the hypocrite, which shall finally prove as the 
giving up of the ghost. 
* 2. The other great end to be kept in view in respect to 
the class of which I am speaking, is, to build them up in 
faith and holiness. 



LECTURE VII, 149 

If they have actually been regenerated, they will cer- 
tainly, in a greater or less degree, bring forth the fruits of 
holiness ; for it is impossible that a gracious principle 
should exist in the soul, and be habitually and entirely 
inoperative. Nevertheless, it is not every Christian who 
lets his light shine as he ought ; not every one that exerts, 
any thing like the amount of influence in favor of the cause 
of Christ, that is fairly within his power. It therefore be- 
comes a matter of great moment that, at the very begin- 
ning of the Christian life, each one should be impressed 
with his obligations to labor for his Master to the extent of 
his ability ; and should be assisted so far as may be, to 
form a character which will ensure at once the highest 
degree both of comfort and of usefulness. 

Whatever is done then to mould the character, will pro- 
bably exert a far more decisive influence^ than any thing 
which could be done at a future period ; and upon the 
counsels and directions which an individual receives, at 
such a moment, may depend in a great degree, the amount 
of good which he is to accomplish during his whole future 
life. Surely then, it is no unimportant office, to counsel 
and guide the young Christian. He who does it aright 
may be instrumental of opening fountains of blessing, 
which shall send forth their purifying streams in every 
direction. 

II. We proceed, secondly, to consider some of the means 
by which this twofold object is to be attained. 

1. Let those who hope they have been the subjects of a 
recent conversion be put on their guard against too confi- 
dent a belief that they have been truly regenerated. 

I remember to have heard of an individual, who was 
afterwards greatly distinguished for piety, going to the elder 
Jonathan Edwards, to whose congregation he belonged, to 
tell him what God had done for his soul ; and after that 

16 



150 LECTURE VII. 

great and good man had listened to the account of his sup- 
posed conversion, and had heard him speak with rapture 
of the new and delightful views which he had of spiritual 
objects, and when the individual w^as expecting that he 
would do nothing less than congratulate him upon having 
become a child of God, he was disappointed beyond mea- 
sure by simply hearing him say that what he had experi- 
enced was an encouragement to him to persevere ; though 
the man himself, in relating the circumstance many years 
after, when he had come much nearer the fulness of the 
stature of a perfect person in Christ, cordially approved the 
course which his minister had adopted. It is not always 
easy to satisfy persons in these circumstances, even of the 
possibility that the hope and joy which they experience 
may be spurious ; but it is much to be desired, both as it 
respects their safety and their usefulness, that this should 
be effected ; that while they acknowledge with devout 
gratitude to God the least evidence that he has extended 
to them a gracious forgiveness, they should fear lest a 
promise being left of entering into rest, they should seem 
to come short of it. 

You cannot do better service to those who believe them- 
selves to have been recently converted, than by presenting 
distinctly before them the evidences of Christian character. 
Let them clearly understand that the mere fact that the 
clouds which hung over their minds are dispersed, and that 
they are rejoicing in bright sunshine, constitutes no suffi- 
cient evidence of their regeneration. Encourage them to 
analyze their feelings, to examine the motives and princi- 
ples of their conduct, especially to inquire whether they 
have the humility of the gospel, whether they cordially 
approve its conditions, and whether they glory in sovereign 
grace as it is manifested in the gospel scheme of salvation. 
Show them moreover, that the evidence of Christian cha- 



LECTURE VII. 151 

racter in order to be decisive, must be progressive ; that it 
consists especially in a fixed purpose, and a steady course 
of endeavors in reliance on God's grace, to do whatever he 
would have them to do ; that they must add to their faith 
all the virtues and graces of the Christian ; and that if they 
fail of this, whatever other experience they may have, must 
be set down as nothing. Caution them against the wiles 
of their own hearts, and the wiles of the great adversary ; 
and urge them to settle the question respecting their claim 
to Christian character, by referring their experience to the 
simple standard of God's word. 

It is a matter of great moment that they should be im- 
pressed, from the beginning, with the importance of habit- 
ual self-examination ; for this is not more essential to ensure 
them against self-deception, than it is to all their attain- 
ments in holiness. Let them be exhorted not only to in- 
spect narrowly their motives and feelings from day to day, 
with a view to give a right direction to their prayers, and 
to ascertain the measure of their growth in grace, but also 
frequently to revolve the great question whether they have 
really been born of the Spirit. Such a course, honestly 
and faithfully pursued in the light of God's word, is hardly 
consistent with cherishing the hypocrite's hope, or with 
making low attainments in piety. 

2. Endeavor to impress them with the consideration 
that if they have really been reneived^ they are just entering 
on a course of labor and conflict. 

It too often happens that, in the rapture which the 
soul experiences when it emerges suddenly into light from 
the gloom of deep conviction, there is little else thought of 
than its own enjoyment ; and the bright visions of heaven 
by which it is well nigh entranced, occasion a temporary 
forgetfulness of the trials and conflicts, and all the more 
sober realities, of the Christian life. Now it is highly im- 



152 LECTURE VII. 

portant that an individual should not, at this interesting 
moment, take up the idea that he is bom into the king- 
dom to enjoj a state of perpetual sunshine; that he has 
nothing to do but fold his arms, and sit quietly down in the 
cheering and bright light of God's countenance. Let him 
once get this impression, or any thing like it, and the effect 
in the first place will be painful disappointment ; for it is 
almost certain that, at no distant period, he will have to 
encounter days of darkness ; and he will find a law in his 
members warring against the law of his mind ; and not 
improbably he may be ready to give his hope to the winds, 
and resign himself to the conviction that all the joy he had 
experienced, was the effect of delusion. Besides, such an 
impression, there is reason to fear, might exert an influence 
that would be felt through life, unfavorable to his Christian 
activity ; and might abate, in no small degree, his zeal, 
and efiiciency, and usefulness, in the cause of his Master. 

Strive then to impress the young convert, from the very 
beginning, with the conviction that God has called him into 
his kingdom to struggle with the corruptions of his heart, 
to war with principalities and powders. Admonish him that 
there is still an evil principle within him ; and that if its 
operations seem to be suspended for a season, it yet retains 
a deadly energy, which will call him ere long to severe con- 
flict. Admonish him also of the temptations of the world ; 
tell him how insidious they are ; in what a variety of forms 
they present themselves ; how many who have imagined 
themselves secure against their influence, have neverthe- 
less been assailed by them with success. Remind him also 
that he has a powerful, invisible enemy to contend with — 
the enemy of all good ; — against the influence of whose 
wiles no condition in life can secure him. Let him understand 
that he is never so much in danger of falling into the hands 
of his spiritual enemies, as when he yields to a spirit of self- 



LECTURE VII. 153 

confidence or carelessness ; and either practically forgets 
that such enemies exist, or else thinks to encounter them 
in his own strength. He cannot be girded for conflict too 
early ; or observe their movements too vigilantly ; or meet 
them too resolutely and boldly. Let him determine that he 
will wear the whole armor of God at all times, and espe- 
cially in every scene of temptation into which his duty may 
call him, and then he may be able to stand. 

But he has something more to do than merely to contend 
with enemies ; he has to labor directly for the advancement 
of Christ's cause. His lot is cast in a world lying in dark- 
ness and wickedness ; and it is for him to lend his aid to 
enlighten and reform it. At home and abroad there are 
multitudes thronging the road to perdition ; it is for him to 
put forth a hand to arrest them, and by God's blessing upon 
his efforts, to turn them into the path of life. The Lord 
Jesus Christ has given to the world his gospel ; and he has 
left an injunction upon his people to carry it to the ends of 
the earth ; that its light may every where be diffused, and 
its influence every where felt ; and every one who is born 
into his kingdom becomes specially obligated to lend him- 
self to this glorious work ; and to continue in it, till he shall 
be taken from his labors to his reward. Every young con- 
vert should be made to feel that this is a matter of personal 
concern with himself ; and that from the hour of his conver- 
sion to God, all his affections, and faculties, and posses- 
sions, are in some way or other to be consecrated to his 
glory. 

Let it further be impressed upon him that it is most un- 
worthy of any one who believes himself called into the 
kingdom of Christ, even to desire an exemption from labor 
and trial. For what were the sufferings and sacrifices of 
him, to whom the Christian looks as the foundation of his 
hopes and joys ? And what is the utmost that he can 

16* 



154 LECTURE VII. 

do or suffer, when compared with the exceeding and eter- 
nal weight of glory which awaits him in heaven ? It is a 
law of God's providence that, on the whole, the highest 
degree of happiness is connected with the most faithful dis- 
charge of duty ; so that while he calls the Christian to 
glory, he calls him also to virtue ; in other words, he brings 
him into his kingdom to find his enjoyment in a course of 
obedience to his commandments. And while these com- 
mandments in themselves are not grievous, the keeping of 
them brings peace to the soul, inasmuch as it furnishes the 
best, the only satisfactory evidence of true discipleship. 
Surely the young Christian cannot resist, will not desire to 
resist, the force of such considerations. 

3. Let it be impressed upon the mmd of the new convert 
that much of his comfort and usefulness in the religious life 
will probably depend on the resolutions he fortus, and the 
principles he adopts^ at the beginning. 

It is in religion as in every thing else — the first steps that 
are taken are usually the most decisive. The man who 
sets out well in any worldly enterprise, who carefully counts 
the cost, and engages in it with a prudence and zeal, and 
resolution, corresponding to its importance, we expect, in all 
ordinary cases will succeed ; and we calculate that the 
amount of his success will be very much in proportion to 
the discretion and energy which characterize his earliest 
efforts. On the other hand, let an individual engage in the 
same enterprise with but little reflection and zeal, and instead 
of making it, at the beginning, a commanding object, let 
him regard it as a matter to be taken up and laid aside as 
circumstances may seem to dictate, and you may expect 
with confidence that the end will be like the beginning ; — 
little attempted, little accomplished. In like manner, sup- 
pose the young Christian to set out with a decided purpose 
formed in the strength of divine grace, to do the utmost in 



LECTURE VII. 155 

his power for the advancement of the Redeemer's cause ; — 
suppose he adopt fixed principles for the regulation of his 
whole conduct, and begin with a firm resolution that he 
will never yield them up in any circumstances ; and you 
may hope with good reason to see him holding on his way 
in the face of appalling obstacles, and exhibiting through 
life the character of a good soldier of Jesus Christ. But if 
he begin satisfied with some general intentions to do his 
duty and without any definite plan for the regulation of his 
conduct ; if he adopt the principle of yielding improperly to 
circumstances, and endeavor to make a compromise with 
conscience for the neglect of duties that require great self- 
denial, rely on it, his course will, in all probability, be marked 
by little either of comfort or usefulness ; and if he is saved 
at the last, it will be so as by fire. I acknowledge, indeed, 
that there are some cases in which an unpromising beginning 
is followed by an active and useful life ; in which an early 
course of conformity to the world is terminated by means 
of some dispensation of providence, and is followed by a 
course of exemplary and devoted obedience ; but in all ordi- 
nary cases, the man who adopts a low standard at the be- 
ginning never rises to a more elevated one at any subsequent 
period. 

Let the young convert, then, be admonished to begin the 
Christian life with such resolutions and principles, as will be 
likely to secure the greatest amount of activity and useful- 
ness. Let him contemplate the importance of doing the 
utmost in his power for the honor of his Master, and the 
advancement of his cause, as well as of reaching the high- 
est attainable degree of personal holiness ; — let him deter- 
mine that nothing shall divert him from the purpose of fol- 
lowing Christ through bad as well as good report, and that 
in the strength of his grace, he will march on in his service 
in spite of any obstacles that may lie in his way — let him 



156 LECTURE VII. 

resolve that he v^ill keep the eye of faith steadily fixed 
now upon the Saviour's cross, and now upon the crown of 
glory ; — in short, let him form a plan of holy living that 
shall reach onward to his entrance into the abodes of light ; 
and in these holy resolutions and purposes, I expect to find 
a germ of an actively useful and eminently happy life. I 
expect there will prove to have been that which will reflect 
an additional lustre on his immortal crown. 

4. Let him be exhorted farther to draw all his religious 
opinions J and all his maxims of conduct ^ directly from God^s 
word. 

I know there are many human productions in which the 
doctrines of the gospel are stated and defended with great 
ability ; and he would do himself injustice, as well as evince 
a criminal ingratitude for God's goodness, who should refuse 
to avail himself of them as helps towards building himself 
up in the most holy faith. But let them always be consi- 
dered as subordinate to God's word, and let them be tried by 
it ; and let whatever will not stand that test be thrown 
among the wood, and hay, and stubble. He who derives 
his views of religion from any uninspired works, however 
much of general excellence they may possess, will of course, 
be liable to an admixture of error ; and besides, even if he 
should chance to gather from them the uncorrupted truth, 
he could not have the same deep and powerful conviction 
of it, as if it had been drawn directly from the lively oracles. 
And how much less is God honored in the one case than in 
the other ! How much less by believing the truth because 
we may have been taught it in our catechisms and confes- 
sions, than because it has beamed forth upon our own intel- 
lectual eye, from the very page on which the mind of the 
Spirit has been recorded ! 

I would say then to every one just entering on the Christ- 
ian life — study the Bible for yourself. Study it with hu- 



LECTURE VII. 157 

mility, diligence and prayer. What you find written there, 
believe ; whatever is not written there is either not true or not 
important. And be not discouraged in your efforts to ascer- 
tain the truth for yourself, by the fact that the world is full 
of different opinions respecting it ; — for the truth is clearly 
revealed ; and besides, most of the disputes which exist 
among Christians relate rather to human philosophy than 
to the matter of God's word. Remember that God himself 
hath said that the meek " he will guide in judgment ; the 
meek he will teach his way." 

But it is not less important that the new convert should 
derive the rules of his conduct^ than the principles of his 
faith, directly from the Bible. There are indeed, many 
particular cases in which men may be called to act, in re- 
lation to which there are no express directions given in 
God's word ; but there are general rules to be found there 
which admit of application to every possible case ; and 
which an enlightened conscience will always know how 
to apply. Let the young Christian then be exhorted to 
study the Bible diligently as a rule of duty ; to ascertain 
from God's own word what he would have him to do in the 
various conditions in which he is placed ; and to refer 
every question of right and wrong which he is called prac- 
tically to decide, to this standard, and no other. Let his 
character be formed under this influence, and it cannot fail 
to rise in fair and goodly proportions. There will be in it 
a dignified stability which will secure it from the undue 
influence of circumstances. Its possessor will be enabled 
to act not only with rectitude, but with confidence and de- 
cision ; and while he keeps a conscience void of offence, 
he will commend himself to the good will of his fellow men, 
and to the special favor of God. The current of public 
opinion, not unfrequently sets in a wrong direction, and yet 
is exceedingly rapid and powerful ; and he who attempts 



158 LECTURE VII. 

to resist, may be obliged to do it, at the expense oi uearing 
a heavy load of obloquy ; but he who makes God's word 
the rule of his conduct, will be able to do this notwithstand- 
ing ; to stand firm, even when the waves of opposition are 
rolling over him. Many a young Christian has been car- 
ried, by the influence of custom and example far into 
courses over which he has subsequently had just occasion 
to weep ; when, by having adhered to the scriptural stan- 
dard of duty, he would have kept a conscience void of 
offence, and prevented the occasion for bitter repentance. 

You then who may be called to counsel those who are 
just setting out in the Christian life, should charge them 
by a regard to their comfort, their character, their useful- 
ness, to have nothing to do with any other standard of 
conduct than that which they find in the Bible. Let them 
be exhorted to adhere to this, even though it should subject 
them to the greatest temporal inconvenience. Let them 
determine that they will regulate by it the whole conduct 
of their lives ; not only what may seem to them their most 
important, but also their least important actions. When 
they have settled the question, '' Lord what wilt thou have 
me to do ?" then, and only then, are they prepared to act 
with freedom and confidence ; in a manner that is fitted to 
keep peace in their consciences, and to bring down upon 
them the blessing of God. 

5. Let the young convert be admonished to ascertain^ as 
soon as possible^ his besetting sin ; and to guard against 
it ivith the utmost caution. 

It is true of every Christian that there is some one sin to 
which he is more inclined than any other : what that sin 
will be in any particular case, may depend on the previous 
moral habits of the individual, or on the circumstances in 
which he is placed, or on some original infirmity or obliquity 
of constitution ; for as bodily disease is most likely to seat 



LECTURE VII. 159 

itself in the part which is originally the weakest, so the 
depravity of the heart usually concentrates its energies in 
some passion or appetite which is marked by the greatest 
degree of natural perverseness. He, therefore, who ascer- 
tains in his own case what this sin is, and who regards it 
as the most formidable enemy to be encountered in his 
conflict, and succeeds in gaining a victory over it, accom- 
plishes much in the way of his sanctification. He who 
neglects to guard against the besetting sin, while he takes 
care to avoid sins to which he is not specially inclined, acts 
as unwise a part as a general who should employ all his 
skill and energies to prevent an attack from some scattered 
and unimportant part of a hostile army, while, without any 
effort at resistance, he should suffer the main body to move 
towards his ranks, and open upon them in a fierce discharge 
of artillery. 

There is no difficulty in ascertaining the besetting sin in 
any given case, provided there is a faithful use of the 
means which God has put within our power : nevertheless, 
from a neglect of these means, there is no doubt a lamen- 
table degree of ignorance on this subject. Let the young 
Christian then be exhorted to watch closely all the ten- 
dencies of his mind ; to observe on what forbidden objects 
his affections most readily fasten ; in what manner his 
thoughts are occupied when his mind is most at leisure 
and subject to the least restraint ; and what circumstances 
and occasions operate most powerfully upon him in the 
way of temptation ; and the result cannot fail to be, that 
he will know what is the sin which most easily besets him, 
And when he knows it, he is prepared to guard against it. 
This he must do by keeping a watchful eye upon that 
particular part of his moral nature in which this sin has its 
operation ; by avoiding, as much as possible, those objects 
and occasions which are likely to furnish temptations to it ; 



160 LECTURE VII. 

or if called into scenes of temptation in the providence of 
God, by placing a double guard at the vulnerable point ; 
by earnest prayer for grace to be enabled to gain the vic- 
tory ; and by cultivating, in a high degree, general spirit- 
uality of character. As the indulgence of the besetting 
sin, whatever it may be, is unfavorable to the growth of 
all Christian affections, so the general culture of these af- 
fections, the abounding in all the virtues and graces of the 
gospel, is the most certain means of destruction to the be- 
setting sin. It can never flourish in a soil which is habi- 
tually watered with heavenly grace. 

6. Impress the young convert with the danger of the 
least departure from duty ; of taking the first step in the 
way of spiritual decline. 

It rarely happens that an individual becomes a great 
backslider at once : on the contrary, it is usually the work 
of time, and generally has a small and almost imperceptible 
beginning. When the first step is taken, there is probably ,^ ,; 
in most cases, an intention not to take another — certainly 
not to go far ; but it is a law of our moral constitution that 
one step renders the next easier ; and hence the facility 
with which we form our habits, especially evil habits. 
The young convert, upon the mount of Christian enjoyment,. /' 
is able to form but an inadequate idea of the conflicts of 
the religious life ; he realizes then, much less than in sub- 
sequent parts of his course, the need of constant watchful- 
ness against temptation ; and this lack of vigilance throws 
open the doors of the heart, and not unfrequently the 
tempter has planted himself there, and begun his work, 
before any danger has been apprehended. And the soul 
which was just now burning with ecstacy, wakes to the 
fact that not only its joys are rapidly upon the wane, but 
that its desires are becoming earthly, and its impression o 
invisible things feeble and inconstant. 



LECTURE VIL 161 

Caution the young Christian then, against the least 
allowed violation of duty. Admonish him that, if he enter 
on such a course, he can never know where it will end. 
Point him to examples of those who have taken the first 
step with a firm purpose never to take another, who have 
nevertheless continued to backslide, until there was scarcely 
the semblance of Christian character remaining. Let him 
understand that no degree of joy, or even of spirituality, 
which he can possess on earth, can be any security against 
his losing his evidences and his comforts, and sinking into 
a state of the most chilling spiritual indifference. And if, 
at any time, he find that he has actually begun to wander, 
let him know that he has the best reason to be alarmed, 
and that every hour that he continues his wanderings, he 
is making work for bitter repentance, and bringing a dark 
cloud over his religious prospects. 

7. Put the young convert on his guard against neglecting 
the duties of the closet. 

It is in the closet especially that every Christian must 
labor to keep alive the flame of devotion in his own soul. 
Here, more than any where else, is carried forward the 
work of self-examination : here are the silent communings 
of the soul with its God, in acts of confession, and thanks- 
giving, and supplication : here the believer becomes ac* 
quainted with his sins and his wants ; and while he un- 
burdens his soul before the throne of mercy, gathers strength 
and grace, by which he is sustained and carried forward 
amidst the various duties and trials which meet him in the 
world. Hence it always happens that, in proportion as 
the duties of the closet are neglected, religion languishes 
in the heart, and the exhibition of it in the life becomes 
faint and equivocal. It is manifest to those who see him 
and converse with him, that there is a canker corroding 
the principle of his spiritual life. And he himself knows 

17 



162 LECTURE VII. 

that his joys have fled, and his conscience has become his 
accuser, and he has no evidence which ought to satisfy 
him that he is walking in the path to heaven. 

But this evil — that of neglecting the closet — is one to 
which the young convert is exceedingly liable. He may 
not be liable to it in the very earliest stage of his Christian 
experience ; for then the duties of the closet are usually a 
delight to him; but when his first joys have partially 
subsided, and he has begun to be conversant with the more 
sober realities of the religious life, there is great danger 
that he will find some apology for a partial and irregular 
attendance on these duties. One source of danger is found 
in the fact that he may neglect them, and still be unob- 
served by the world ; that he may neglect them without 
forfeiting, even in the view of his fellow Christians, who of 
course are ignorant of it, his claim to Christian character. 
And then these duties being of a peculiarly spiritual kind, 
are the very first to lose their attractions to a Christian 
who is losing his spirituality. Other duties bring' him be- 
fore the world : these bring him only before his own con- 
science and the searcher of his heart. And besides, where 
circumstances may seem to render it inconvenient to engage 
in closet devotion, it is too easy a matter to satisfy the 
conscience with an indefinite resolution that it shall be 
attended to at a subsequent period ; and no resolution is 
more easily broken than this ; and let it be broken in a 
few instances, and a habit of comparative indifference to 
the closet is the consequence. I doubt not that I might 
appeal to the experience of a large part of those who have 
professedly entered on the Christian life for evidence of the 
fact, that no habit is formed with more ease than that of 
neglecting, in a greater or less degree, this class of duties. 

If then the faithful discharge of private religious duties 
be so essential to a vigorous and healthful tone of religious 



LECTURE VII. 163 

feeling and action, and if there be peculiar temptations to 
neglect them, then every person at the commencement of 
the Christian life, ought to be admonished of his danger on 
the one hand, and exhorted to fidelity on the other. Comisel 
him to have his stated seasons for private devotion, in 
which nothing but imperative necessity shall keep him out 
of his closet. Counsel him to take heed that he do not 
substitute the form for the spirit of prayer ; that he do not 
satisfy his conscience by appearing before God with the 
bended knee, without the broken heart. Counsel him to 
mingle with his private prayers self examination and the 
reading of God's word ; that thus his communion with 
God may be more intelligent on the one hand, and more 
spiritual on the other. Counsel him never to turn his back 
upon his closet, because he may find his afifections low and 
languid, and may imagine that he should have little enjoy- 
ment in attempting to pray : let this rather be urged as an 
argument for hastening to his closet, and confessing and 
lamenting his indifference, and endeavoring to get the flame 
of devotion rekindled in his bosom. In short, urge upon 
him the importance of private meditation and devotion in 
all circumstances ; urge him to redeem time for that pur- 
pose under the greatest pressure of worldly care ; and keep 
him mindful of the connection which this duty has with 
every thing that belongs to Christian character and 
Christian enjoyment. 

8. Admonish him to beware of the ivorld. 

Every one who has made much progress in the Christ- 
ian life, has been taught by his own experience that the 
world is a deadly enemy to the believer's growth in grace. 
It is not easy for an advanced Christian to be very familiar 
with it and retain a high degree of spirituality ; and accord- 
ij^gly you will find that there are few comparatively whose 
secular callings keep their faculties under an almost con- 



104 LECTURE VII. 

stant contribution, who habitually evince a deep and strong- 
religious sensibility. Even the cares of the world — to speak 
of nothing more, are exceedingly apt to mar the Christian 
character; but there are, in addition, the pleasures of the 
world, the honors of the world, the riches of the world ; all 
of which in tarn seize hold of the heart with a mighty 
grasp. And sometimes the world laughs and scoffs at the 
young Christian, and tries to persuade him that he is giv- 
ing himself to fanaticism and folly. Sometimes it flatters 
and caresses him, and by its artful blandishments, seeks to 
draw him aside from the plain path of duty. And some- 
times it would fain persuade him that he is right in the 
general, but unreasonably scrupulous in respect to particu- 
lars ; and that the self-denial to which he is disposed to 
yield, is little better than pharisaicai austerity ; and that if 
he will go, at least to a moderate degree, into the amuse- 
ments of the world, there is enough in the Bible in favor of 
cheerfulness and joy to bear him out into it. Indeed the 
world will assume any form, or turn into any thing, to draw 
the Christian, especially the young Christian, away from 
God and from duty. 

How important then that you put him on his guard, at 
the very beginning, against this dangerous enemy ! If he 
is in the morning of life as well as young in Christian expe- 
rience, there is reason why you should caution him espe- 
cially against the levities and amusements of the world; 
for this is the point at which he will be most in danger. 
Let him beware of former careless associates : not that he 
should say to them by his conduct, '' Stand by, I am 
holier than thou f not that he should be encouraged to 
assume a single distant or unsocial air towards them ; but 
he should take heed that they do not imperceptibly draw him 
into forbidden paths ; that they do not either by flatteries on 
the one hand, or sneering insinuations on the other, prevail 
over his scruples and bring him under the lash of his own con- 



LECTURE VII. 165 

science in consequence of unjustifiable and unchristian com- 
pliances. 

9. Another important part of duty towards those who 
are just entering on the Christian life, is to encourage them 
gradually to hear a part in social religious exercises. 

I do not mean that this is to be done in every case ; for I 
well know that there are few persons who, from some diffi- 
culty of utterance, or some peculiarity of constitutional 
temperament, are disqualified to conduct the devotions of 
an assembly to edification ; and wherever cases of this kind 
exist, it were wrong to urge, or even to encourage the indi- 
viduals to attempt this service. But these cases, I believe, 
are not frequent ; in far the greater number of instances 
where they are supposed to exist, the individuals, I doubt 
not, mistake their own powers. Wherever there is the 
gift of prayer in a common degree, it is exceedingly desir- 
able that its possessor should be trained to the exercise of 
it in public ; for if he improve it in that way discreetly, it 
cannot fail greatly to increase his usefulness. I would not, 
however, advise, in ordinary cases, that a young Christian, 
especially if he be a very young person, should be brought 
at once to conduct the devotions of a large assembly ; for I 
should expect that it would serve to embarrass and dis- 
hearten him on the one hand, or to pufF him up 
with spiritual pride on the other ; and withal that there 
would be little to edify those whose devotions he should 
attempt to conduct. I would advise, therefore, that his first 
attempts to lead in social praj^er, should be on some occa- 
sion where there are literally but two or three gathered 
together ; and it were v/ell that those should be persons 
whose feelings correspond with his own, and whose presence 
would be least fitted to embarrass him ; and from leading 
occasioaally in such an exercise, he might soon acquire that 
composure and self-command, which would enable him to 

17* 



I6g LECTURE VII, 

guide in a proper manner the devotions of- a larger circle ; 
and ultimately and at no distant period, to perform the duty 
of public prayer, wherever he should be called to it. Let 
him be preserved from the extreme of being driven to this 
service, prematurely, on occasions altogether public, and 
let him be kept from the opposite extreme of yielding to a 
timidity which shall prevent him from engaging in it at all, 
and the greatest amount of good will be secured to him, 
the greatest amount of good will be secured to the church 
and the world through his instrumentality. 

10. I observe, once more, that every young convert should 
be encouraged, at a proper time to make a public profession 
of religion. 

This is a duty which he owes to himself, to the church, 
and to his Master ; and he cannot deliberately and volun- 
tarily neglect it, but at the expense of his comfort, his use- 
fulness, and even his claim to Christian character. It is his 
privilege to come into the church ; for it is refreshing to sit 
under the shadow of its ordinances, and in the communion 
of saints on earth, to anticipate the more elevated and rap- 
turous communion of heaven. It is his duty to come into 
the church ; for hereby especially he is enabled to let his 
light shine before men, so that they seeing his good works 
may glorify our Father who is in heaven. 

But while every young Christian should be encouraged 
to make a profession of religion, he should be encouraged 
to do it at the proper time — neither too early nor too late. 

There is a possibility of doing this too early. In this 
case there would be no sufficient opportunity of testing the 
character ; or of guarding against self-deception, or as the 
case may be, of understanding what is implied, and what 
is required, in a Christian profession. On the other hand, 
it may be deferred too long ; and then the desire for it may 
become feeble, the mind clouded, and all the Christian 



LECTURE vn. 157 

graces languish for want of that appropriate nourishment 
which is supplied by Christian ordinances. It is not easy, 
nor indeed possible, to establish any certain rule which 
shall apply in all cases, in respect to the time of admission 
to the privileges of the church ; because there must needs 
be a difference corresponding with the variety of con- 
stitutional temperament, external advantages, degrees of 
knowledge, and degrees of evidence of Christian character ; 
but it is manifest that either extreme is fraught with 
danger ; that great precipitancy, or long delay, may be the 
occasion of serious evils. 

The young convert should be well instructed in relation 
to the nature and obligations of a Christian profession ; and 
should be encouraged to come with humility in view of his 
unworthiness ; with gratitude in view of the greatness of 
the privilege ; with strong resolutions of holy living in view 
of the peculiar obligations of acknowledged discipleship ; 
and with full dependence on divine grace in view of his 
own weakness on the one hand, and the arduous duties of 
the Christian life on the other. Let him come with this 
spirit, at the proper time, and we may reasonably hope 
that it will be good for him, that it will be good for the 
church, that he joins himself to her communion. 

Let it not be thought, however, that the church owes no 
peculiar duty to young Christians, after she has received 
them into her fellowship, or that the same cautions and 
counsels which she has given them before, are not to be 
repeated subsequently to this act. She is to bear in mind 
that they are new in the duties and conflicts of the Christ- 
ian life ; that they are peculiarly exposed to the temptations 
of the world ; that they need to be counselled and instruct- 
ed with Christian fidelity and affection ; — to be assisted in 
forming and executing their plans of usefulness ; and en- 
couraged to come up prudently, and yet fearlessly and 



1G8 LECTURE VII. 

decidedly, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. As 
a tender mother cherisheth her children, so she is to cherish 
them. Like the great Shepherd, she is to take the lambs 
in her arms, and carry them in her bosom. 

Without extending my remarks farther on this subject, 
I think we are fairly brought to the conclusion, that every 
revival of religion is dependent for its good effect, in no 
small degree, upon the course which is adopted with those 
who are professedly its subjects. Whether the effect of a 
revival is to be that the purity of the church shall be in- 
creased, as well as its numbers, or that with what is truly 
good it is to receive a large amount of dross and chaff; 
whether those who have really been renewed are to begin 
and hold on a course of consistent, active. Christian obedir 
ence, or to have their religious character marred, and their 
usefulness abridged, by being conformed to false and un- 
scriptural standards ; — depends, in no small degree, upon 
the instruction and counsel they receive, while, they are 
yet babes in Christ. Let every Christian, then, who un- 
dertakes to perform this important office, realize deeply his 
responsibility. Let him bear in mind that the influence 
which he exerts, will tell, not only on individual character, 
but on the future efficiency and purity of the church. And 
let all seek to qualify themselves for this arduous work, 
(for there are none upon whom it may not at some time 
devolve,) by the faithful study of God's word, by earnestly 
supplicating divine grace, and by constantly aiming at a 
high standard of Christian experience. With the furniture 
thus acquired, you may mingle among your younger 
brethren and sisters in Christ with delight and profit, both 
to yourselves and them. You may be increasing in the 
knowledge of God, while you are building them up in the 
most holy faith. You may be walking in the path of 
eminent usefulness towards the abodes of immortal glory. 



LECTURE VIIT. 

EVILS TO BE AVOIDED IN CONNECTION WITH REVIVALS, 

ROMANS xiv. 16. 

Let not then your good he evil spoken of. 

This direction of the Apostle was suggested bj a par- 
ticular case, which was the subject of controversy in the 
church at Rome, when this epistle was written. You 
will instantly perceive, however, that the rule here pre- 
scribed, is of universal application ; and that it is founded 
in general principles of Christian prudence and charity. 
The design of it is not only to direct us in the practice of 
that which is good, but to lead us to unite wisdom with 
our pious activity ; that we may, so far as possible, prevent 
incidental evils from being connected with our well meant 
efforts, and that our good may be inoffensive and irre- 
proachable. 

As there is no part of Christian conduct in relation to 
which this direction is not applicable, so, if I mistake not, 
it applies especially to the part which the church is called 
to take in a revival of religion — indeed to the whole eco- 
nomy of a revival. For as there is no department of reli- 
gious action in which even good men are not liable to err, 
so there is no other field in which the Christian is called to 
labor, where there is greater danger of his being misled. 
There is in the minds of most men a tendency to extremes ; 
and that tendency is never so likely to discover itself as in 
a season of general excitement, When men are greatly 



170 LECTURE Vlil. 

excited on any subject, we know that they are in far more 
danger of forming erroneous judgments, and adopting im- 
proper courses, than when they are in circumstances to 
yield themselves to sober reflection. Now as there is often 
great excitement in connection with a revival, there is the 
common danger which exists in all cases of highly excited 
feeling, that our honest endeavors to do right will result in 
more or less that is wrong ; in other words, that we shall 
give occasion for our good to be evil spoken of 

The conclusion to which we should be brought on this 
subject from the very constitution of human nature, is in 
exact accordance with what M^re know of the history of 
revivals. There always has been, mingled with these 
scenes of divine power and grace, more or less of human 
infirmity and indiscretion ; and in some cases, no doubt, in 
which there have even been many genuine conversions, 
there has been just reason to say, " what is the wheat to 
the chaff ?" To say nothing of revivals in modern times — 
whoever will read the history of the early revivals in New 
England, while he will find evidence enough that the 
presence and power of God was in them, and if he be a 
Christian, will regard the record of them as occupying one 
of the most blessed chapters in the history of the church, 
will nevertheless find just cause to weep that they should^ 
have been clouded so much by the mistakes and infirmities 
even of good men. But those good men (some of them at 
least) lived to be satisfied that they were in the wrong; ' 
and it is to their honor that they acknowledged it ; and it 
were impossible to read the record of their acknowledgment, 
without feeling a sentiment of veneration for their charac- 
ters, and without wishing that the errors into which they 
fell, might, so far as they were themselves concerned, be 
blotted from the memory of the church. 

I am aware, my friends, that in endeavoring to present 



LECTURE VIIL 17| 

, before you the abuses to which revivals are liable, and 
with which they have always been, in a greater or less 
degree, connected, I am undertaking a task of peculiar 
delicacy ; and I confess to you, that nothing but a strong 
and honest sense of duty would have led me to attempt it. 
I will state to you the considerations which have arisen to 
occasion this reluctance, and the manner in which I have 
felt myself obliged to dispose of them. 

In the first place, I can hardly doubt that an attempt to 
expose these evils, may appear to some unnecessary. But 
so thought not the illustrious Edwards, when his discrimi- 
nating and mighty mind was occupied in framing some of 
the most judicious treatises which the world has seen, 
for the very purpose of guarding against the abuses of 
revivals. On the title page of those books the church has 
written her own name, and she claims them as her pro- 
perty in a higher sense than almost any thing else except 
the Bible. And is it not manifest that that illustrious man 
judged rightly in composing them ; and that the church 
has judged rightly in the estimate she has formed of them ? 
For who does not perceive that if revivals of religion become 
corrupted, there is poison in the fountain whose streams 
are expected to gladden and purify? And who that is 
competent to judge, will doubt that those treatises have 
done more than any other uninspired productions, to main- 
tain the purity of revivals, from the period in which they 
were written to the present ? If Edwards has rendered 
good service to the church by writing these immortal 

^ works, then surely it cannot be unnecessary for other mi- 
nisters to direct their humbler efforts to the same end. It 
is just as necessary now to distinguish between true and 
false experience, and between right and wrong conduct in 
a revival of religion, as it ever has been in any preceding 
period ; and the manner in which this duty is practically 



172 LECTURE VIII. 

regarded, must always determine, in a great degree, the 
amount of blessing which any revival will secure. 

But it may be said also that what I am about to attempt 
should be avoided, because it is fitted to atvaken controversy. 
I acknowledge that controversy on the subject of religion 
is not in itself desirable ; for it is exceedingly liable to wake 
up the bad passions of men. Nevertheless, there are some 
cases in which we shall all agree that it is necessary to 
hazard the evils that may result from it. No being on 
earth ever awakened a more violent religious controversy 
than Jesus Christ ; but if it had not been for this, where 
now would have been oar blessed Christianity ? So also 
Luther, and Calvin, and Zuingle, and Knox, and the whole 
host of reformers, excited a controversy concerning religion 
which had well nigh set the world on fire ; but if it had 
never existed, what evidence have you that the church 
would, to this hour, have witnessed the glorious reforma- 
tion ? President Edwards published his " Thoughts on 
Revivals," and other invaluable works in connection with 
the same subject, at the expense of being denounced, even^; 
by some of his own brethren, as an enemy of revivals ; but 
these publications have served to correct and prevent great 
abuses ever since ; and if he had rendered the church no 
other service, for this alone she would have embalmed his 
memory. Controversy, then, though it is never to be de- 
sired for its own sake, cannot always be declined in con- 
sistency with Christian obligation ; or without putting at 
fearful hazard the best interests of the church. 

In the present case, however, permit me to say that I 
have no intention to excite controversy by attacking any 
man or body of men. The evils which I shall endeavor 
to expose, are none of them peculiar to any one denomina- 
tion of Christians, or to any particular period of the church ; 
but they have existed at various periods, and among diffe- 



LECTURE Vlil. 173 

rent sects ; and there is always danger that they will exist 
from the very constitution of human nature. If it should 
be said that some of the remarks which I shall offer ought 
to he withheld, on the ground that they admit of applica- 
tion to an existing state of things in the church, I acknow- 
ledge that that seems to me a strong reason why they 
should not be withheld ; for if the abuses of which I shall 
speak actually do exist in our own times, we are in the 
greater danger of falling into them ; and in the greater 
need of being guarded against them ; whereas, if they 
were only evils of other days, I might, in speaking of them, 
seem to be beating the air. But I utterly disclaim all 
responsibility in respect to any particular application. I 
only say that such abuses have existed — do exist ; but my 
province in respect to them is, not to charge them upon 
any individuals, or upon any particular portion of the 
church, but to endeavor to guard you against them. The 
only point for which I hold myself responsible is, that these 
are really evils, and ought to be avoided. 

It may also occur to some, that an exhibition of the evils 
which are sometimes connected with revivals, may be fitted 
to injure the general cause^ by leading many to the con- 
clusion that if ministers themselves acknowledge that there 
is so much chaff in them, probably the whole is delusion; 
and worthy to be regarded only with indifference or con- 
tempt. That some men may have taken refuge from the 
convictions of conscience in this miserable delusion, far be 
it from me to question ; nevertheless, I am constrained to 
believe that it is a rare case in which any good cause is 
ultimately injured, by telling the honest truth respecting it. 
Besides, you may be assured that the cause of revivals is 
far more likely to suffer by an attempt on the part of its 
friends to pass off every thing for gold, than by giving to 
that which is really dross its proper name. Suppose you 

18 



174 LECTURE VIIL 

should introduce a mere man of the world — if you please 
a man of high intellectual culture, into a revival in which 
there should be gross disorder and fanaticism ; and you 
should endeavor without any qualifying remarks, to impress 
him with the importance of the work that was going for- 
ward — it is altogether probable he would saj^, or at least 
think, if that were a revival, he had seen enough of 
it ; and if that were religion, the less he had of it the better. 
But suppose you should say to him of all that is disorderly 
— '' that is the mere operation of human infirmity or passion 
— the chaff mingling with the wheat ;" and of all that is 
good and praiseworthy — " that is the genuine operation of 
the Holy Spirit ;" and he would not improbably, in view 
of that distinction, acknowledge the reality and importance 
of the work. Yon cannot, even if you would, make sensi- 
ble men think, in ordinary cases, that that is religion, or 
part of a revival of religion, which is not so ; and any at- 
tempt of this kind is exceedingly liable to awaken their 
hostility to the whole subject. Irreligious men are gene- 
rally ready enough to admit the correctness of any distorted 
accounts of religion, especially if they get them on so good 
authority as that of Christians themselves ; for every such 
account furnishes them with an argument against the 
whole subject, and puts their consciences into a still deeper 
lethargy. 

And finally, I can suppose it may appear to some that 
any attempt to expose the evils incidentally connected with 
revivals, may be fraught with danger, inasmuch as it is 
acknowledged, on all hands, that these evils exist among 
good men^ and withal are connected loith much that is 
praiseworthy ; and it may be thought safest to let the 
tares and wheat flourish together, lest an attempt to remove 
the former should expose the latter. As to the fact that 
the evils to which I refer have been found among truly 



LECTURE VIII, 175 

devoted men, there is no ground for question. Even the 
well known Mr. Davenport, who was for a while an apostle 
of fanaticism, and who publicly denounced, and prayed for 
by name, many of the most eminent ministers of New 
England as the enemies of revivals, was nevertheless be- 
yond a peradventure a good man ; and thought that in all 
his irregularities he was faithfully serving his Master : but 
he did not think so always ; for he afterwards penitently 
and publicly acknowledged his error, and even justified the 
severest censure which his conduct had received. Yes, I 
repeat, good men do fall into these excesses ; and so also 
good men are sanctified but in part. And as we do not 
fear that any scriptural endeavors to purify them from re- 
maining corruption will exert a bad influence upon their 
Christian graces, so we ought not to apprehend that any 
judicious efforts to correct the errors to which I refer, will 
serve in any degree to abate their truly Christian zeal and 
activity. There are cases, I acknowledge, in which great 
evils must be tolerated for a season, because any attempt 
to remove them would only make way for greater ones ; 
but nothing is more certain than that to tolerate evil in 
good men because they are good men, is directly contrary 
both to the spirit and letter of the gospel. And besides, 
the very fact that there is much that is praiseworthy in 
their characters, and much that is benign in their influence, 
is a reason why we should do all in our power to remove 
whatever may, in any degree, impair their usefulness. 
We would treat good men in this respect as in every other : 
while we would acknowledge them good, we would strive 
to make them better and more useful. 

I have now stated to you the grounds of the delicacy 
which I have felt in bringing this subject before you on the 
one hand, and the grounds of my conviction that my duty 
as a Christian minister would not permit me to pass it by, 



176 LECTURE VIII. 

on the other. Some of the evils to which I have referred 
in general, I proceed now more distinctly to consider. 

1. One prominent evil to be guarded against in a revival, 
is the cherishing of false hopes. 

I surely need not undertake to prove that this is an evil, 
and one of appalling magnitude ; for a false hope, at the gate 
of eternity, is a passport to hell ; and such a hope once 
indulged, is exceedingly apt to hold its place till the last, 
though it sometimes lurks in the bosom, almost unobserved, 
by the individual who is the subject of it. And where it is 
given up, it more commonly makes way for a kind of 
vague scepticism in respect to all experimental religion ; and 
steels the conscience, in a great measure, against future 
conviction. There are doubtless some who indulge a false 
hope, that are subsequently awakened, and become true 
Christians ; but in general such a hope is undoubtedly the 
best security which the adversary could desire for keeping 
the soul under his entire dominion. 

Now I admit that in every case of supposed conversion, 
there is a liability to a false hope. Let a revival be conduct- 
ed with as much wisdom as it may, and there is danger that 
there will be some cases of self-deception. And the rea- 
son is obvious. For the first evidence upon the mind fas- 
tens, is a change of feeling. But some of the operations of 
animal passion appear so much like truly gracious affec- 
tions that even advanced Christians often mistake, in their 
endeavours to distinguish between them. Certainly then, 
there is far greater danger that those who have had no 
experience in religion, and who withal are eagerly look- 
ing out to catch the first gleam of evidence that they have 
been renewed — there is far greater danger that they will 
mistake some accidental and joyous, yet temporary, com- 
motion of the animal feelings, for the exercise of a princi- 
ple of true piety. I am sure that every person who has 



LECTURE VIII, 177 

been conversant with revivals must acknowledge that this is 
in accordance with fact. Who that has mingled even in the 
most genuine revival, has not witnessed, in some instances 
at least, a painful exemplification of the character of the 
stony ground hearers ; in v/hom, for a while, there was 
much that looked like religion, but because the principle 
was wanting, it all gradually withered away. 

Now if there is danger of the indulgence of a false hope 
in every case, there is special danger of it under particular 
circumstances. The change which takes place in conver- 
sion is of a moral nature ; it has its seat in the soul, and no 
where else. There is no natural connection between this 
change and any bodily postures or movements. If then 
the idea be held out, that conversion is usually associated 
with the loss of bodily strength, or with any remarkable 
bodily motions, or that it is more likely to happen to an 
individual in one place or one posture than another, where 
the same truths are proclaimed, and the same prayers of- 
fered, there is great danger that this will lead to self-decep- 
tion ; — that, with unreflecting minds at least, that bodily 
exercise which profiteth little will be put in place of that 
godliness which has the promise of eternal life. There is 
danger that the individual will substitute what is consider- 
ed an external expression of anxiety for his soul, for the 
internal workings of genuine conviction ; or if there be 
something of true conviction, there is danger that he will 
mistake the physical act of taking a pauicular place or pos- 
ture which is spoken of as peculiarly favorable to conver- 
sion, for the spiritual act of yielding up the soul to the 
Saviour. 

Again: The instrument by which every conversion is 
effected is God's truth. If then ministers, during a revival, 
fail to hold up the truth in its distinctive and commanding 
features, and confine themselves principally to impassioned 

18* 



178 LECTURE VIU. 

addresses, and earnest, exhortatory appeals, there is great 
reason to apprehend many spurious conversions. God 
requires, indeed, that the truth should be preached in an 
earnest manner ; bat it must be the truth that is preached ; 
and that only he will honor in the conversion of men. I 
appeal to the whole record of revivals for evidence, that 
where any thing has been substituted to any extent in place 
of this — where exhortation, instead of holding its proper 
place, has taken the place of instruction, there has been the 
least of sound, deep, abiding religious impression ; and there 
have been found the greatest number of hopeful converts, 
whose subsequent experience has proved that they had no 
root in themselves. 

Still farther : The change which the soul experiences in 
regeneration is a change of mighty import — nothing less 
than a new creation — old things passing away, and all 
things becoming new. Any course of instruction then 
which should leave the impression that it may be accom- 
plished independently of a divine influence ; or that a man 
has nothing to do but to wish himself a Christian in order to 
become one ; or that it is as easy to change one's heart 
from the love of sin to the love of holiness, as to change one's 
purpose in respect to any worldly concern, or to perform any 
physical act ; — any such course of instruction, I say, must 
necessarily expose to self deception : because it represents 
the conversion of the soul to God as comparatively a small 
matter ; and if that impression be gained, how reasonable 
to expect that the individual should suppose himself con- 
verted when he is not so ! The way of effecting true con- 
versions, no doubt, is, to represent the work to be done in 
all its magnitude ; and then to bring out the very mind of 
the Spirit in respect to the manner of doing it, and the 
means by which it is to be accomplished. 

I think you will agree with me, my friends, that in any 



LECTURE VIII. 17§ 

of the circumstances which I have here supposed, there is 
special danger that sinners v^ill take up with false hopes. 
There is yet another course of treatment which is extremely 
well adapted to cherish and confirm such hopes. Let the 
sinner who has actually deceived himself, hear his supposed 
conversion spoken of with as much confidence as if it were 
known to be a genuine one ; let him hear himself constant- 
ly numbered among the converts, and by those in whose 
judgment and experience he confides ; let there be little or 
nothing said that implies the possibility of his being deceiv- 
ed, and let every thing that is done in respect to him, seem 
to take for granted that he stands on safe ground ; and 
above all let him immediately be introduced into the church ; 
and if he ever wakes out of that delusion, believe me, it will 
be little less than a miracle. This last step particularly is 
fitted, more than any other, to entrench him in a habit of 
self-security, which he will probably carry with him to his 
death-bed. 

2. Another of the evils to be guarded against in a revival 
is a spirit oi self-confidence. 

Even advanced Christians are liable to this ; and some- 
times exhibit it in a degree that is truly humiliating. While 
they are witnessing the powerful operation of God's Spirit 
in the conviction and conversion of sinners, and are actively 
engaged in helping on the work, they lose sight in some 
degree, of the fact that they are but unworthy instruments ; 
and though there may be an acknowledgment of divine 
agency occasionally upon their lips, yet in their hearts they 
are really taking to themselves the glory. I need not speak 
of the manner in whicl\ this spirit discovers itself in the part 
which they bear in a revival, for no one who witnesses its 
operation can easily mistake it ; but I may say with confi- 
dence that wherever it exists, it mars the beauty, and 



180 LECTURE VIII. 

detracts from the purity, and hinders the efficacy of the 
work. 

But I refer here more particularly to a self-confident spi- 
rit, as it is often exhibited by young converts ; and let me 
say that the very same course of treatment to which I have 
just adverted as being fitted to cherish and confirm a falser- 
hope, is adapted to awaken even in those who have been 
truly converted a spirit of self-confidence. This is a great 
evil as it respects their own growth in grace. Wherever 
it exists there will be little of self-examination ; little sense 
of the need of being constantly taught and guided by the 
Holy Spirit ; little of that humility which becomes a sinner 
redeemed by the blood of Christ, and saved by sovereign 
grace ; and I may add, little of that gratitude which looks 
in acts of faith and praise toward the Lamb that was slain. 
That there may be much of zeal connected with self-confi- 
dence in a young Christian, cannot be questioned ; though 
it may reasonably be doubted whether even that is alto- 
gether of heavenly origin : but whether it be so or not, it 
usually happens where it is found in connection with this 
spirit, that the flame burns with diminished brightness until 
it has nearly died away. 

Nor is this spirit less prejudicial to the young Christian, 
as connected with his usefulness. In a young convert 
especially, nothing is so lovely as humility. Let him show 
by his deportment rather than by his professions, that he 
often turns his eye upon the hole of the pit from which he 
hopes he has been taken ; that if he has obtained mercy he 
feels that he deserves nothing but wrath ; and that for 
aught he knows he may be indulging the hope of the hy- 
pocrite — certainly that he has much to do to make his ^ 
calling and election sure ; — I say, let him manifest such a 
spirit in his conduct, and it will give him favor with all with 
whom he associates ; and it will secure him access to many 



LECTURE VIII. I 181 

hearts which might otherwise be barred against his inflii- 
ence. But let him, on the other hand speak of his conver- 
sion as if he were sure it was genuine ; let him refer with 
confidence to the very moment when it occurred ; let him 
talk of it as an event that has been brought about bj mere 
human agency ; and let him say to others by his deport- 
ment, '' Stand by, I am holier than thou ;" — and you may 
rest assured, especially if it be a young person, that he can 
have little hope of accomplishing much for the cause of 
Christ. There will be something in his very manner to 
repel those whom he should desire to win ; and though he 
may console himself in view of his unsuccessful efforts, by 
thinking of the obstinacy of sinners, yet it were more rea- 
sonable that he should humble himself that, if he be a 
Christian, his conduct, in this very particular, indicates so 
much of remiaining infirmity and corruption. 

3. Another lamentable evil incident to revivals, is a 
spirit of censoriousness. 

No doubt there is much in the conduct of many Christ- 
ians and ministers, at such a time, to give just occasion for 
regret ; and if they appear cold and worldlj^, it is only a 
Christian duty that we should affectionately admonish 
them of their error, and endeavor to render them more 
spiritual and active. But this is something quite different 
from that censorious, denouncing spirit, to which I here 
refer ; which, though it be exercised in reference to religion j 
is nothing better than the spirit of the world. And it is 
easy to see how it gets into operation even in good men. 
Their minds are awake to the great subject of the souPs 
salvation ; and they are oppressed by its amazing weight. 
They feel that something efficient ought to be done — must 
be done to wake up a slumbering world ; and they desire 
that all Christians should go along with them in their ef- 
forts. In this state of mind they are prepared for nothing 



182 LECTURE VIII. 

but cordial co-operation ; and where they do not find it, 
corrupt nature takes advantage of the excitement they 
have reached, and the disappointment they feel, and per- 
haps v^ithal of a naturally ardent temperament, to dis- 
charge itself not only in grievous complaints, but some- 
times even bitter invective. This is the most favorable 
account of the exercise of this spirit. There are other 
cases, no doubt, in which it is identified with a spirit of self- 
righteousness ; in which the secret and prevailing feeling 
of the heart is, that heaping censure upon others is an easy 
way of laying up treasures in heaven ; that to complain of 
the coldness and worldliness of our fellow Christians, is an 
evidence of zeal and devotion in ourselves. But let this 
spirit have its origin in whatever state of mind it may, we 
shall all agree that it is a serious evil ; and ought to be 
guarded against with the utmost care. 

It is not uncommon to find this spirit marking the con- 
duct of private Christians towards each other. There are 
some who will condemn their brethren as cold Christians, 
or perhaps even no Christians at all, because with less of 
constitutional ardor than themselves, and possibly more 
prudence, they are not prepared to concur at once in every 
measure that may be suggested for the advancerTient of a 
revival ; or because they talk less of their own feelings 
than some others ^ or because they attend fewer public 
religious exercises than could be desired ; or because from 
extreme constitutional diffidence they may, either properly 
or improperly, decline taking part in such exercises. Many 
a Christian who has been laboring faithfully and judicious- 
ly for the salvation of sinners, whose closet has witnessed 
to the fervor of his devotion, and whose conversation has 
been according to the gospel of Christ, has not only been 
suspected by his brethren of coldness, for some one or other 
of the reasons just mentioned, but has been marked, and 



LECTURE VIII. 133 

denounced, and even prayed for, as dead to the interests of 
revivals, if not dead in trespasses and sins. 

On the other hand, it is not to be questioned that men 
of a cautious habit, who are constitutionally afraid of ex- 
citement, sometimes unjustly accuse their more zealous 
brethren of rashness, and impute to spiritual pride what 
really ought to be set to the account of an honest devoted- 
ness to Christ. Especially, if real and great abuses 
actually exist, they may be so much afraid of coming with- 
in the confines of disorder, that they may rush to the op- 
posite extreme of formality ; and from that cold region they 
may look off upon the Christian who evinces nothing more 
than a consistent and enlightened zeal, and hail him as if 
he were burning to death in the very torrid zone of enthu- 
siasm. 

The same spirit which discovers itself in private Christ- 
ians toward each other, is also frequently manifest in 
respect to different churches. A church which is abun- 
dantly blessed with revivals, may condemn with a high 
hand another church, in which, though religion may not 
be in a languishing state, yet there may never have been 
any general and sudden effusion of the Holy Spirit. And 
this may be attributed most unjustly to a cold ministry, or 
to some signal want of faithfulness in the members ; when 
the fact that the church is really in a flourishing state, (its 
interests being sustained by gradual, rather than by sudden 
accessions,) is entirely overlooked. And where there is 
not only the absence of revivals, but the spiritual interests 
of a church are really depressed, it is still more common to 
hear the case spoken of with an air of unchristian severity ; 
and not unfrequently there is something like a sentence of 
reprobation passed upon the whole body, as if they were 
indiscriminately a company of backsliders. Or where a 
church differs from another in its views of the economy of 



184 LECTURE VIII. 

revivals, it may denounce that other as chilled with the 
frost of apathy on the one hand, or scorched with the fires 
of fanaticism on the other ; when, as the case may be, the 
church that is the object of censure may hold correct and 
scriptural ground. Any church, whether it be distinguished 
by its zeal or its want of zeal, that takes the responsibility 
of dealing out violent censures upon its sister churches, 
especially if they are walking in the faith and order of the 
gospel, certainly assumes a degree of responsibility which 
it can ill afford to bear ; and it will have no just ground 
for surprise, if it should meet a painful retribution, not only 
in bringing back upon itself the censures of men, but in 
bringing down upon itself the displeasure of God. 

And I am constrained to go farther, and say that miinis- 
ters have sometimes erred in the same manner ; judging 
each other as fanatics or as drones ; some supposing that 
their brethren were setting the world on fire, when they 
shed around them no worse light than that of sober con- 
sistent zeal ; and others that their brethren were in the 
very valley of death as it respects religious feeling, when 
the principle of spiritual life was beating in strong and 
vigorous pulsations. I will say nothing of what exists on 
this subject in our own day ; but I refer you to what has 
been in other days. I point you for examples to men who 
have long since been in their graves, and whose joy in the 
world of glory will not be interrupted by our learning wis- 
dom from, the imperfections of which they are now entirely 
free, and which they lived bitterly to lament. In the revi- 
vals which are recorded in the early part of the history of 
New England, there were a considerable number of minis- 
ters, and among them the individual to whom I have al- 
ready referred as distinguished for his extravagance, who 
declared the mass of their brethren to be unconverted m.en ; 
who denounced them as leading souls to hell ; and who 



LECTURE VIII. 185 

endeavored, by every means in their power, to alienate 
from them their congregations, that they might bring them 
under the influence of what they regarded a more faithful 
ministry. This unhappy faction, from the nature of the 
case, was not of long continuance ; it could not be, because 
it lived upon the highest excitement ; but it lasted long 
enough to counteract, to a melancholy extent, the benign 
effects of that work of grace ; long enough to entail upon 
at least two generations, its destructive consequences. If 
you read the history of those days, or rather of those men, 
there will be every thing to make you weep, until you 
come to the dehghtful fact that they saw their error, and 
acknowledged it, and wept over it themselves. 

I know of no way in which a censorious spirit can dis- 
cover itself, whether in ministers or private Christians, that 
is so revolting, and I may say, dreadful, as in prayer. 
The fact must be acknowledged, humbling as it is, that 
men have sometimes seemed to be pouring out at the foot 
of the throne their resentments against cold Christians and 
ministers ; and have even assumed the office of judging 
their hearts ; and have told the Almighty Being, apparently 
for the sake of telling the congregation, that they were as 
dead as the tenants of the tomb. Brethren, no apology 
can be offered for this — not even the semblance of an apo- 
logy. Christian charity herself can record nothing better 
concerning such a prayer, than that it breathes the spirit 
of the world in one of its most odious forms. Whatever 
degree of religious indifference may have called it forth, it 
certainly cannot furnish a juster cause for humiliation than 
does the prayer itself. 

4. Inconstancy in religion is another evil to be avoided 
in connection with revivals. 

Men are exceedingly prone to vibrate from one extreme 
to the other ; and it is a law of human nature that a very 

19 



186 LECttRE Vlli. 

powerful excitement, in respect to the same individuals^ 
cannot long be sustained. Hence there is danger that 
Christians, from the very excitement to which they are 
liable during a revival, will gradually fall into a state of 
spiritual languor, and will even give occasion for the cutting 
inquiry, " What do ye more than others ?" 

Now what might be expected, from the very tendencies 
of human nature to happen, we find, actually does happen ; 
both in respect to individuals and churches. Who has not 
seen the Christian, during a revival, seeming to be con- 
stantly on the mount both of enjoyment and of action ; 
willing apparently to wear himself out in the service of his 
Master, and for the salvation of souls ; and in a few months 
after, comparatively silent, and inactive, and insensible, on 
the great subject which had so lately occupied him almost 
to the exclusion of every other ? And who that has been 
much conversant with revivals, has not seen a church, 
during one of these seasons of special blessing, waking up 
to a lively sense of obligation, sending up united, and holy, 
and strong supplications, and laboring incessantly with an 
eye now on the cross, and now on the judgment seat, and 
now on the crown of life ; and the same church, at a sub- 
sequent period, apparently forgetting their responsibility, 
becoming cold in their devotions, and relaxing in all their 
efforts for the salvation of men 1 In the one case, you . 
would have supposed from their fidelity, that they were 
marching on to a high seat in glory : in the other, you 
would, especially if you had turned your eye off from the 
Bible, have almost been ready to doubt the perseverance 
of the saints. 

Now wherever this state of things exists, it is a serious 
evil, both as it respects the church and the world. It is 
so to the church, because it mars the consistency and 
beauty of her character ; lessens the amount of her com- 



LECTURE Vlil. 187 

munion with her Head ; and renders her light compara- 
tively dim and feeble, when she is commanded to let it 
shine with a steady brightness. It is an evil to the world, 
inasmuch as it casts an air of suspicion, in the view of 
many, over the reality and importance of revivals ; and 
leads them to imagine that Christians work hard one day 
to purchase the privilege of doing nothing the next ; and 
that a revival is a inatter to be got up and laid aside, at 
the pleasure of those who engage in it. It leads them, 
moreover, to think less than they otherwise would of the 
good influence of Christians when they attempt to exert it ; 
and when, in more favored seasons, they show themselves 
active and endeavor to rouse up the sinner's slumbering 
conscience, not improbably their exertions will be unavailing 
from his recollection of their indifference at other times, 
and his impression that their zeal is a mere creature of 
circumstances. 

You will agree with me that this is a great evil, and 
ought to be guarded against with the utmost caution. 
One means of avoiding it is, by endeavoring to keep down 
animal passion, especially at the height of the revival, 
when it is most likely to be awakened ; for the stronger 
the excitement of the animal nature, the greater the ten- 
dency to a universal reaction. Another means is, by en- 
deavoring to keep up spiritual feeling when the general 
excitement attending a revival begins to pass away ; for 
that is the critical time when religious languor usually 
first creeps over the soul. By using the proper caution at 
these two points, the church may effectually avoid the 
evil which I am considering ; and instead of becoming 
listless at the close of a revival, she may show that she has 
renewed her strength for subsequent labors and conflicts. 

5. Another evil to be guarded against in connection with 
revivals, is ostentation. 



188 LECTURE VIII. 

I refer not here to the manner in which revivals are 
sometimes conducted, (having adverted to that already,) 
but to the manner in which they are represented, both in 
common intercourse, and through the press ; and I cannot 
doubt, that, in respect to both, theie is much that no dis- 
creet Christian can contemplate without regret and disap- 
probation. 

It is not uncommon, during the progress of a revival, 
and sometimes in an early stage of it, to hear its glorious 
results spoken of with as much confidence as if they had 
actually been realized. Particular religious exercises 
w^hich may have been attended v/ith unusual solemnity, 
are represented as having secured the conversion not only 
of a great, but a definite number of souls. One is repre- 
sented as having preached, another as having prayed, an- 
other as having talked, so many sinners into the kingdom. 
Perhaps the infidel has professed suddenly to renounce his 
infidelity, and embrace the Saviour ; or perhaps the profli- 
gate has wept in view of his profligacy, and resolved to 
enter upon a new life ; these cases are confidently spoken 
of as instances of genuine conversion ; and w^hat is still 
worse, they are too often spoken of as such in the presence 
of the very persons who are the subjects of them. It is 
easy to see that, if the individuals are true converts, the 
effect of this must probably be to inflate them with spiritual 
pride ; if they are not true converts, it must fearfully aid 
the work of self-deception. It leaves a bad impression also 
upon the world ; for it is the exact opposite of that humility, 
that sense of dependence, that disposition to acknowledge 
God in every spiritual blessing, which constitute some of 
the loveliest features of Christian character. 

But what I chiefly refer to under this article, is the os- 
tentatious complexion, and the premature date, of many 



LECTURE VIII. 189 

of those narratives of revivals, which are given to the world 
through our religious periodicals. It is only honest to ac- 
knowledge that many of them, though evidently dictated 
by a desire to do good, are yet eminently fitted to do evil. 
They are written in the midst of strong excitement, when 
the mind is most in danger of mistaking shadows for sub- 
stances ; when its strong hopes that much is about to be 
done, are easily exchanged for a conviction that much has 
been actually accomplished. Hence all who are supposed 
to appear more serious than usual, are reckoned as subjects 
of conviction ; and all who profess the slightest change of 
feeling are set down as converts. And particular instances 
are detailed, in which very obstinate sinners have been 
made very humble, and then have become entranced with 
bright visions of the Saviour ; and other cases are men- 
tioned, in which a child has pressed forward into the king- 
dom, in spite of the opposition of a wicked parent ; or a 
wife, notwithstanding she was persecuted by an ungodly 
husband. Now the narrative containing these particulars 
goes abroad in the w^orld ; and^ almost of course comes 
back immediately into the congregation whose religious 
state it professes to desciibe. And what think you will 
probably be the effect ? What will it be upon those who 
here find it announced to the world that they have been 
converted ; and perhaps read a high wrought and glowing 
story of their conversion !■ What especially must it be on 
those who are represented as having been the subjects of a 
miracle of grace ; as having been great sinners, and now 
having become great saints 1 If they are really converted, 
the effect of this must be, as in the case just mentioned, to 
lessen their humility, and open their hearts to temptation. 
If they are cherishing a false hope, it cannot fail to add to 
its strength. And if, before the narrative meets them, as 
is a very supposable case, ihey have cast off their serious 

19* 



190 LECTURE VIII, 

impressions and returned to the world, it must provoke and 
irritate them ; and thus fearfully increase their obduracy, 
and render their salvation still more improbable. And 
what effect will this be likely to have upon those who are 
designated, (if not by name, yet so as to be identified,) as 
having been distinguished for their maUgnant opposition to 
the work ? It will awaken in them the spirit of fiends. 
It will embolden them to fight still more furiously against 
God and against his people ; and not improbably to do that 
which will seal their perdition. And what must its effect 
be upon the surrounding world ? What, when they com- 
pare the written statement with what has fallen under 
their own observation, and find a sad disagreement ? 
Must it not be to create and cherish a prejudice against all 
revivals ? Must it not throw an air of suspicion over every 
statement respecting them which they either hear or read ? 
Must it not even bring in question the veracity of good 
men? 

You will by no means understand me as intimating any 
disapprobation of publishing at a proper time even detailed . 
accounts of revivals. So far from this, that I regard it as 
due to the church, due to the honor of him whom we ac- 
knowledge as the great Agent in revivals, that such ac- 
counts should in due time be sent forth. But let them not, 
in ordinary cases, be written, until the true results of the 
revival are in some measure known ; certainly, let them be 
confined to palpable facts which no one can gainsay. Let 
them be framed with a deliberate recollection that they are 
to be scanned by multitudes ; that they are to exert an in- 
fluence either for or against the cause of revivals ; and that 
God is not honored, but offended, by the least attempt to go 
beyond the truth, even in recording the triumphs of his 
grace. It is a matter of importance that all narratives of 
this kind should be furnished by competent and responsible 



LECTURE VHI. 191 

persons— those who have opportunity to know the facts, 
and ability properly to estimate them. While it cannot be 
questioned that there are many instances at the present 
day, in which the evil of which I am speaking is strikingly 
exemplified, it is an occasion for joy that there are many 
other cases, in which revivals are detailed seasonably, ju- 
diciously, and in a manner fitted in all respects to subserve 
the cause of truth and piety. 

6. Undervaluing divine institutions^ and divine truth^ 
is another evil, which often exists in connection with 
revivals. 

It is common, and no doubt right too, during a season of 
special attention to religion, to increase the number of occa- 
sional services during the week ; and especially the number 
of meetings for social prayer. And it is desirable that 
Christians should feel a deep interest in these exercises ; 
and should regard it as not less a duty than a privilege to 
engage in them, as their circumstances may admit. But 
they are not to be considered in the strict sense as divine 
institutions ; for though there is a fair warrant for them in 
the general spirit of the gospel, and, as we believe, even a 
direct ^ sanction in apostolic usage, yet the regulation of 
them is a matter which God has been pleased to leave to 
the wisdom of the church ; and whenever Christians exalt 
them to an equality with those institutions which are 
strictly divine, they may expect to incur the displeasure of 
the Master, as well as lose the benefit which these exer- 
cises are adapted, when kept in their proper place, to im- 
part. But there is reason to apprehend that many Christ- 
ians, during a season of revival, actually do in their 
feelings,- attach an importance to these services which is 
even paramount to that which they recognize as belonging 
to the public exercises of the Lord's day. The secret feel- 
ing of the heart, there is reason to believe, often is, that to 



192 LECTURE VIII. 

attend public worship on the Sabbath, though it is a duty^ 
has yet too little in it that is distinctive and out of the com- 
mon course, to be regarded with very deep interest ; where- 
as those services which are observed during the week, and 
which seem more like a free will offering, rise in their 
estimation to the highest degree of importance. There is 
in all this no doubt more or less of self-righteousness ;— a 
sort of unacknowledged and perhaps undetected feeling, 
that the eye of God rests upon them even with more favor, 
when they are rendering him a service which he has left 
in some measure to their own discretion, than when they 
are walking in the plain and broad path of his direct com- 
mandments. These occasional services, I repeat, are not 
to be undervalued ; for they are important helps, in every 
point of view, towards sustaining and carrying forward a 
revival ; but that we may reap the benefit they are design-, 
ed to secure, we must give them no higher place than 
the great Head of the church has manifestly assigned to 
them. 

And while there is danger that the social exercises 
which the church may establish during a revival, may lead 
to too low a comparative estimate of the stated services of 
the sabbath, there is perhaps equal danger that they may 
bring into some degree of disregard the duties of the closet. 
Especially if these occasional exercises are greatly mul- 
tiplied, the time which is requisite for attending them beside 
other duties of a more secular nature, may leave but little 
opportunity for self-communion, reading the scriptures, 
and private prayer; and there is reason to fear that, 
sometimes at least, the Christian makes a compromise 
with his conscience for at least a partial neglect of 
these latter duties, by calling to mind his exemplary 
diligence and constancy in respect to the former. And 
besides^ there is no doubt that it lays his powers under 



LECTURE VIII. 193 

far less contribution, to be engaged in a constant round of 
social exercises which are fitted to excite the mind, than 
to enter into his closet and commune with himself, and 
apply the truths and precepts of the gospel for the regula- 
tion of his affections and conduct. It is to this practical 
error, I doubt not, that we are to attribute in a great 
degree, the fact, that many Christians, who engage with 
much interest in a revival, still seem to turn it to so little 
account as it respects their own personal piety. Nothing 
is more certain than that the neglect of closet duties, what- 
ever other duties may be performed, must wither the be- 
liever's graces, and render his^ Christian character sickly 
and inefficient. 

If you would avoid the evil which is here contemplated, 
and secure the good which is aimed at by those who incur 
the evil, let God's institutions be kept in their proper place. 
Regard the public services of the sabbath as far the most 
important which you can attend. Think it however a 
blessed privilege that you may meet for religious purposes 
frequently at other times ; but never let such meetings be 
a substitute for secret devotion. And if the effect of them 
should ever be to keep you away from your closet, or to 
give you a disrelish for its duties, you need no other evi- 
dence that there is something wrong ; — either that your 
attendance on these social services is too frequent, or not 
with the right spirit. 

Nor is there less danger that a revival may be perverted 
to the undervaluing of God's truth. At such a time, espe- 
cially, men love to be excited ; and while those who hear 
the preaching of the word are apt to delight in those stir- 
ring and earnest appeals which are most fitted to rouse the 
feelings, there is a strong temptation on the part of minis- 
ters to feed this passion for excitement by limiting them- 
selves to a few topics of exhortation, rather than by hold- 



194 LECTURE Vin. 

ing up gospel truth in all its extent and fulness. And m 
this waj it often comes to pass, that there is an aversion 
contracted to instructive preaching ; the doctrines of the 
Bible come to be regarded, both bj people and ministers, 
as comparatively tame ; and I hardly need say that, as a 
consequence, the ministry loses much of its real efficiency, 
and the piety of the church languishes for want of its 
appropriate nourishment. 

Nor is this all. It cannot be questioned that revivals 
are sometimes made the occasion not only of inspiring a 
disgust for sober scriptural doctrine, but of introducing into 
the church a flood of error. Ministers in seasons of great 
excitement, and in the desire of saying something that 
shall seize hold of the feelings, sometimes make unguarded 
expressions which involve some important error; and if 
these expressions seem to be followed by good effects, they 
are in danger of repeating them until they come really to 
adopt the error which is thus involved. And then again^ 
the excited multitxide in such circumstances are usually 
carried away by the appearance of great zeal and earnest- 
ness ; and he who evinces the most of these qualities is 
almost sure to be the favorite preacher ; and if he be dis- 
posed to commingle error with truth, there is every proba- 
bility, that, in many instances at least, the one will be re- 
ceived with the other without inquiry or suspicion. Such 
has been the history of the introduction and progress of 
some of the wildest reveries and grossest errors which have 
disturbed the peace and marred the purity of the church. 
Let ministers and private Christians, those who preach and 
those who hear, be alike on their guard against this tre- 
mendous evil. 

7. There are certain things which sometimes' occur 
during a revival, that are fitted to impair the dignity and 



LECTURE VIIL 195 

lessen the influence of the ministerial office ; — an evil which 
should always be guarded against with great caution. 

It must be acknowledged that ministers themselves not 
unfrequentl}^ contribute to this unhappy result. Sometimes 
they are carried away by strong excitement into the region 
of extravagance and even gross fanaticism ; and say and do 
things under this influence, which in their cooler moments 
will take them to their closets for confession and humilia- 
tion. In other cases, they come perhaps honestly to the 
conclusion that some new expedient is necessary to secure 
attention ; and the result is, that they come out with some- 
thing which not only offends a correct taste, but shocks all 
the finer sensibilities, or as the case may be, convulses the 
audience with laughter. Let a minister be as plain, as 
earnest, as faithful as he will ; — but the moment he violates 
the decorum due to the place in which he stands, or the 
work in which he is engaged ; the moment he introduces 
or even tolerates any thing like confusMn in the worship of 
God ; then, rely on it, he sins against the dignity of his office. 
He does that which is fitted not merely to lessen his own 
influence with all men of discreet and sober minds, but in 
the view of multitudes, he brings the ministerial office itself 
into contempt. There are enough who would be glad to 
take such a mistaken course as a sample of the deportment 
of ministers in general ; and a single instance of this kind 
furnishes them with a text book for censure and ridicule 
which they are sure to use to the best advantage. 

The same evil also frequently results from a virtual 
assumption of the sacred office, by men who have neither 
the proper warrant nor the requisite quafifications. Not 
that I would intimate that judicious and intelligent laymen 
have nothing to do in pubfic, beyond merely conducting 
; the devotions of the congregation : I would have them in 
man}^ instances at least, ready to impart the word of 



196 LECTURE Vlil. 

exhortation ; and in private their labors may turn to great 
account in the way of counselling persons in different 
states of mind : but I would have it always born in mind, 
that the ministry is an institution of God's appointment, 
and that the man who performs the appropriate duties of 
this office, without being regularly called to it, is charge- 
able with running before he is sent. And just in proportion 
as this is actually done — ^just in proportion as men set at 
naught the scriptural rules pertaining to order on this sub- 
ject, you may expect to see the influence of the ministry 
paralyzed. Let this be generally done, and who will yield 
to it the reverence which it claims as an institution of 
God? 

8. There is danger, during a revival, of setting up false 
standards of Christian character. 

Men are perpetually prone to mistake the circumstantials 
of religion for the substance of it. If this is owing partly 
to human infirmity, it is owing still more to human corrup- 
tion ; — to an aversion from tha t self-denial which is involved 
in the practice of the genuine virtues. This tendency fre- 
quently discovers itself even in good men ; and perhaps 
never more frequently than during a season of revival. 

There is special danger that, at su6h a time, the means 
of religion will be substituted for religion itself As means 
are of no importance in any other department of action, 
except as they are related to the end and may tend to 
'secure it, so they are of no use in any other point of view 
in the department of religion. Means are of use as it re- 
spects the sinner, when they bring him to repentance ; and 
as it respects the Christian, when they build him up in faith 
and holiness ; and any use of them which does not lead to 
these results, will aggravate the condemnation of the one, 
and retard the sanctification of the other. But there is great 
reason to fear that, in seasons of revival, many Christians, 



LECTURE VIII. 197 

in examining themselves, and estimating their growth in 
grace, do not go much farther than to inquire how many 
meetings they have attended, or how many they have fail- 
ed to attend. Instead of asking themselves whether the 
means they are using are accomplishing their end ; whe- 
ther their love, and faith, and humility, and all other Christ- 
ian graces, are quickened, or deepened, or brightened, by 
what they are doing, thej^- satisfy themselves with the bare 
use of the means ; and mistake a secret self-complacency 
for the testimony of a gdod conscience. 

It is not uncommon to place the evidence of Christian 
character, especially during a revival, in talking abundant- 
ly and fervently on the subject of religion. True it is that 
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh ; and 
it is impossible that religion should be in lively exercise in the 
soul, without giving a character to the conversation. But at 
the same time, the mere fact that an individual makes the 
subject of religion a constant topic in certain circumstances, 
and even dwells upon it with great fervor, is the most 
equivocal evidence of true piety that can be imagined. 
Who has not heard the man actually under the influence 
of the intoxicating cup, talk of his experiences and of his 
joys, as if he thought himself on the threshold of heaven? 
And who has not been sometimes shocked in hearing glow- 
ing statements in respect to revivals of religion, and deep 
lamentations over the coldness of Christians, and strong 
expressions of devotedness to Christ — who has not been 
shocked, I say, to find himself listening to a man, whose 
character he knew to be openly stained with pollution, or 
marked by fraud or falsehood ? I say then, that while an 
entire silence on the subject of religion reasonably subjects 
one's Christian character to great suspicion, a disposition 
to converse much upon it does not of itself constitute any 
evidence of piety, or of growth in piety, that can be relied 

20 



198 LECTURE VIII. 

on. This is a matter which often depends more on consti- 
tutional temperament than any thing else. Of two Christ- 
ians who have the same degree of grace, and have it in 
the same degree of exercise, one will speak out his feelings 
far more readily than the other, owing solely to a difference 
of original constitution. And what is a more striking case 
still, one being of a self-confident turn, may talk like an 
angel about his hopes and his joys, and another, being con- 
stitutionally distrustful, may speak hesitatingly, and rarely 
at all, of his religious experience ; and yet the former may 
be a miserable hypocrite, the latter a devoted Christian. 
But is it not true that in revivals especially, we are too 
prone to estimate the piety, both of ourselves and others, 
by this most uncertain standard 1 Is there not often at 
least a lurking feeling that when we have talked most on 
the subject of religion, we have had the most evidence, and 
have given the most evidence, of being under its power ? 

I cannot avoid here adverting, in one word, to the use 
of a sort of technical phraseology relating to Christian 
experience and revivals of religion, which in some instances 
is not only an outrage upon taste, but is destitute of meaning. 
It may be said that it matters little what language we use 
on this subject, provided it be understood ; but this is not 
true ; for if two expressions convey the same idea, and one 
is fitted to awaken prejudice or disgust in a large class of 
people, and the other is entirely unexceptionable with all, 
then it is not a matter of indifference which of them should 
be used. Now it is not to be questioned that the cant 
phraseology which has gained such extensive prevalence 
in the church, in connection with revivals, is exceedingly 
revolting to men of taste ; and there is reason to fear, in 
many* instances, awakens a permanent prejudice against 
the whole subject. And there is nothing gained to the 
lower classes by the adoption of this phraseology ; for no 



LECTURE VIII. • 199 

language can be more intelligible than that of the Bible 
and common sense. But if I do not greatly mistake, the 
use of this phraseology which I am condemning, is in many 
instances identified with a high tone of spiritual feeling. 
It is evidently regarded by many as indicating a deeper 
spirit of devotion, a more earnest desire for the salvation of 
souls, in short more of the spirit of a reviva,l, than would 
be indicated by the use of the simple and pertinent language 
supplied by God's word. But never was there a greater 
mistake. The best that can be said of it is, that it is a 
departure from the dignity that belongs to the whole 
subject of religion. 

You will perceive at once that the effect resulting from 
these arbitrary standards of Christian character, must be 
unfavorable to the cause of truth and holiness. It is un- 
favorable upon Christians ; for while it greatly interferes 
with their own rehgious improvement, it usually awakens 
among them a spirit of censoriousness towards each other. 
Its tendency in respect to sinners is to put them on a 
course of self-righteous effort, and thus to expose them 
fearfully to self-deception. Let this evil then ever be cau- 
tiously avoided. Let Christians remember that, in a season 
of revival as well as in a season of coldness, the evidence 
of piety is to be sought in the fruits of the Spirit. And let 
sinners remember that no degree of attendance on means, 
no degree of animal fervor, can be substituted for repentance 
of sin and faith in the Saviour ; that the existence of the 
former does not constitute the least evidence of the exist- 
ence of the latter. 

9. The last of the evils against which I would put you 
on your guard in connection with revivals, is corrupting 
the purity of the church. 

We have indeed no right to expect that the church, 
during its militant state, will ever be entirely free from 



200 LECTURE VIII, 

corruption ; though this does not at all lessen our obliga- 
tions to do all we can to render it so. The efficiency of a 
church depends greatly on its purity. Even if it consist 
of only a little band, and yet be eminent for its consistency 
and spirituality, it will exert an extensive and salutary in- 
fluence. Bat let its numbers be increased to any extent^ 
if it embrace a great amount of spurious religion, it will 
diffuse around it but a feeble and uncertain light. Every 
such accession is an accession of fresh weakness. Men 
who are destitute of religion had far better be out of the 
church than in it ; for whether they come in as cold for- 
malists or heated fanatics, they will bring with them the, 
spirit of the world in some form or other ; and whatever 
their worldly rank may be, their influence will injure rather 
than assist the cause of piety. Let the church receive to 
her communion a large number who have deceived them- 
selves with false hopes, knowing nothing of the power of 
religion ; and it will be strange if she does not soon find 
that her most formidable foes are those of her own house- 
hold. She may calculate that the time is not distant when 
she will find her own members corrupting the purity of the 
faith ; when she will see them bound up in the frost of a 
heartless formality, and even resisting so far as they dare^ 
her own efforts to promote the cause of Christ ; when, in 
a word, she will be compelled frequently to exercise her 
discipline, or grievously to neglect her duty. 

Now there is one course which is often adopted in con- 
nection with a revival which is sure to bring in its train 
this great evil ; I refer to the practice of admitting persons 
to the communion with little or no probation. Experience 
has long since taught us that there are many at such a 
time whose feelings are excited and apparently changed, 
and who give promise of being devoted to Christ, who 
nevertheless within even a short time, relapse into their 



LECTURE VIII. 201 

former indifference, and neither consider themselves, nor 
are considered by others, as famishing the least evidence 
of Christian character. These persons not being received 
into the church, are ready enough to acknowledge that 
they have lost their interest in religion ; but let them be 
thus received, and though you will hear from them no 
such acknowledgment, the real fact in respect to their con- 
dition will be the same. Hence we are forbidden to doubt 
that where the custom prevails of admitting persons to the 
communion almost immediately after they are supposed to 
be converted, many must be received who are no better than 
were the stony ground hearers. I know it is said in favor 
of this practice that it originated with the Apostles ; and 
that Peter received to the church the three thousand who 
were converted on the day of Pentecost, without waiting 
to test their characters. But I know too that that case 
cannot be pleaded as a precedent for a similar course now, 
because the circumstances by which it was marked, do 
not exist at the present day. To make a profession of 
Christianity then, was to expose one's self, not merely to 
reproach and obloquy, but to the rack and the stake ; and 
it were impossible to conceive of any higher evidence of 
sincerity than such a sacrifice would involve. But now 
the fact of confessing Christ before the world injures no 
man's character in the view of any one ; and it is a rare 
case that it exposes to any personal inconvenience ; so 
that, of itself, it can scarcely be said to furnish the least 
evidence of Christian character. Let the church, then, as 
she values her own purity and efficiency, beware of pre- 
maturely receiving those whom she considers the fruits of 
revivals to her communion. Not that she will be able, at 
any period, to make an exact separation between the chaff 
and the wheat : but it is a duty that she owes not only to 

20* 



202 LECTURE Vlll. 

herself, but to her exalted Head, to make that separation 
as accurately as she can. 

Such are some of the evils with which revivals of religion 
may be — have been connected. I have dw^lt upon this 
subject at considerable length, not because it is a subject 
the most grateful to Christian contemplation, but because, 
to my own mind at least, it possesses an importance of 
which we can scarcely form too high an estimate. It 
were far more pleasant to speak of the blessings of revivals, 
and of the triumph of the cause of revivals, than of the 
evils which, through the weakness or corruption of human 
nature, may be associated with them. But I cannot resist 
the impression that, in order to realize the highest amount 
of blessing which they are fitted to secure, we must testify 
against their abuse, and endeavor to keep them in their 
purity. I invite you then, my brethren, one and all, to 
labor according to your ability, not merely in the promotion 
of revivals, but in preventing the evils with which they 
are so often connected ; for in doing so, you not only con- 
tribute greatly to the ultimate good influence of every such 
work of grace, but you disarm men of their prejudices 
against the cause of revivals, and thus remove at least one 
obstacle in the way of their salvation. If we knew all 
who had rushed into infidelity in consequence of what they 
have seen and heard in connection with revivals, I fear we 
should be overwhelmed by the discoveiy ; and as we 
would save souls from death rather than multiply the 
temptations to self-destruction, we are bound to watch, 
and pray, and labor, that whatever assumes the sacred 
name of a revival, may be worthy of the character which 
it professes to bear. 

Do 3^ou ask what you have* to do in relation to this 
subject 1 I answer, when God pours down his Spirit in 
the midst of you, you have much to do in preventing some 



LECTURE VIII. 203 

or other of these various evils; and this you are to effect 
by a constant and watchful observation of the state of 
things around you, and by subjecting every thing that is 
proposed to be done to the simple test of God's word. 
You may also exert a general influence beyond your own 
immediate sphere ; by having your views of this subject 
clear and settled, and expressing them temperately, yet 
firmly, as occasion may require. But be careful never to 
mingle in the expression of your views, the least unkind 
or unchristian feeling. Though you may consider your 
brethren in some respects wrong, and may frankly tell 
them so, yet you are to do it in the spirit of Christian 
charity, and cheerfully give them credit for their full 
amount of usefulness. It were greatly to be lamented if 
any of us, in our endeavors to correct the errors of others, 
should fall into a still greater one ; should forfeit our claim 
to that charity which hopeth and beareth all things. 

Brethren, I anticipate for the cause of revivals a glorious 
triumph ; and one ground of this expectation is, that the 
friends of revivals will labor diligently for the promotion of 
their purity. I cast my eye toward the millenial age, and 
I witness these scenes of divine love and mercy going 
forward with such beauty and power, that the eyes of an- 
gels are turned towards them with constantly increasing 
delight. I see the pure gold shining forth in its brightness, 
and the dross thrown aside and estimated at nothing. I 
see the chaff burnt up in the fire, or flying off on the 
winds, while the wheat is pure, and ripe, and ready for 
the garner. I see Christians every where co-operating 
with God for the salvation of men, in the very ways he 
has himself marked out ; and while he pours out his rich 
blessings on the church, the church sends back her 
thanksgivings and praises to Him in the Highest. May 
God in mercy hasten this blessed consummation ! And 



204 LECTURE VIII. 

may you and I, whom he permits to labor m his cause, 
count it an honor that we are privileged to direct our 
efforts towards this high end, and to anticipate with confi- 
dence a glorious result ! 



LECTURE IX. 



RESULTS OP REVIVALS. 



REVELATION v. 13. 

Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, he unto him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever 
and ever. 

This is the new song that was heard bj John in vision, 
as a response from the whole creation, to the sublime 
anthem which had just before trembled on the harps and 
lips of the general assembly and church of the first born. 
The heavenly host, including the angels and the redeemed, 
shout forth their praises in this noble song : — " Worthy is 
the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and 
wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." 
All nature iiTstantly becomes vocal, and sends back her 
amen to this loud, and thrilling, and extatic acclamation. 
*' And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, 
and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all 
that are in them, heard I saying. Blessing, and honor, and 
glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb, forever and ever." 

In the series of discourses of which the present is to form 
the conclusion, I have endeavored to present before you 
< what seems to me the scriptural view of most of the lead- 
ing topics connected with revivals of religion. I have at- 
tempted to show the nature of a genuine revival, and the 
characteristics by which it is distinguished ; to defend revi- 



206 LECTURE IX. 

vals against the cavils of those who oppose them ; to note 
the circumstances which are unfavorable to their progress ; 
to consider the agency of God on the one hand, and the 
instrumentality of the church on the other, in carrying them 
forward ; to exhibit an outline of the treatment that is due 
both to the awakened sinner and the hopeful convert ; and 
last of all, to guard you against the evils to which revivals, 
through the weakness and corruption of human nature, are 
liable to be perverted. It only remains to direct your atten- 
tion, in the present discourse, to the results of revivals ; 
partly in their gradual and partial development, and partly 
as they will be seen, when the cause shall have gained its 
complete triumph. And in taking up this subject in this 
connection, we pass from a theme the least grateful to one 
that is most grateful to the Christian's heart: we turn our back 
upon a region of misgivings, and difficulties, and discou- 
ragements, and enter a field of hope, and light, and glory. 

But you will ask, perhaps, in what manner the glorious 
hymn of praise which I have selected as a text, can be con- 
sidered as pointing to the results of revivals of religion ? I 
answer, it is a hymn in which the church on earth may 
very properly unite in celebrating the triumphs of God's 
grace as they have been manifested in the blessed effects of 
revivals already. It is the tendency of revivals to prepare 
multitudes for taking up this noble song even here, and 
continuing to repeat it with increasing melody and rapture 
for ever. And moreover it is the song in which the ran- 
somed in glory are to celebrate through eternity the praises , 
of redemption ; and of course the triumph of the cause of 
revivals, in which ths purposes of God's redeeming mercy 
will have gone so wonderfully into effect. Whether, there- 
fore, we consider this as a song of triumph from the church 
on earth, or as the everlasting song of the redeemed in 
beaven, it will, in either case, justify the train of thought 



LECTURE IX. 207 

into which I purpose to lead you in respect to the resuhsof 
revivals. These results I will endeavor to present before 
you as they are developed, 

I. In the present world : 

II. In the tvorld of glory. 
I. In the present ivorld. 

The grand result to which revivals are here tending is 
the complete moral renovation of the world. This result is 
to be accomplished, 

1 . By their direct influence^ in elevating the intellectual^ 
spiritual^ and social condition of men. 

There is a sluggish tendency in the human mind which 
it often requires a severe shock effectually to counteract. 
Most men choose almost any other labor than the labor of 
thought ; and hence no doubt many an individual in whom 
there is the germ of a noble mind, never actually rises 
above a very moderate intellectual stature. Now it is the 
tendency of a revival of religion to bring the faculties into 
vigorous exercise. Let the Spirit of God be poured 
out upon a communitj^, and you will find that the public 
mind there is in a wakeful state ; that men seem to have 
lost their aversion to thinking, and have shaken off their 
accustomed sluggishness, and are earnest in making inqui- 
ries, and cannot rest till those inquiries are answered. 
There is an intellectual excitement at such a time perva- 
ding the whole community ; for while convinced sinners 
are set upon a course of deep and earnest thought in respect 
to their salvation, the minds of Christians are laid under 
contribution by the demand that is made upon them for 
counsel and aid ; and even those who are not specially 
awakened by the Holy Spirit, are usually to a greater or 
less extent, brought into the posture of reflection or inquiry. 
And the subject which occupies the mind in this case, let 
it be remembered, is of the noblest kind. The intellect no 



208 LECTURE IX. 

doubt may be vigorously employed upon subjects of an 
unimportant character, and the exercise which it thus 
receives, may serve to develope and quicken its powers ; 
but in a revival of religion, the subject also is fitted not only 
to develope and quicken, but to elevate ; for it brings the 
mind in contact with higher orders of being and higher 
states of existence. Yes, in such a scene, men are not 
only trained to deep reflection, but to reflection upon mat- 
ters of infinite moment ; and the intellect and the heart get 
warm together ; and w^hile the deep and strong sensibilities 
of the soul are roused by means of the light that blazes in 
the understanding, the feelings in turn send back into^the 
mind an influence that is fitted to render its perceptions 
more distinct and vivid. I appeal to the subjects of revivals 
every where for evidence of the fact, that the mind is never 
more active than during a season of the special outpouring 
of the Holy Spirit 

But revivals of religion are favorable to intellectual 
culture, not only as they bring the mind at the time into 
vigorous exercise, but as they originate in the subjects of 
them moral feelings and habits which are peculiarly favor- 
able to the acquisition of useful knowledge. Every true 
subject of a revival has been brought to realize that his 
intellectual powers and all the means he enjoys for their 
improvement, are a talent from the great Master, for which 
he will be responsible ; and this impression will of course 
be favorable to the highest degree of diligence. And then 
again, that calm state of the affections which is thereby 
induced, is peculiarly favorable to a habit of intellectual 
abstraction, and to all high mental efforts : and hence I 
should expect with great confidence that of two individuals, 
one of whom had been a sharer in the blessed effects of a 
revival, and the other was a stranger to the power of reli- 
gion — other things being equal — the former would be far 



LECTURE IX. 209 

more successful in acquiring any branch of useful know- 
ledge than the latter ; besides the fact that in the one case there 
would be a security, and in the other none, that the acqui- 
sitions which were made would be consecrated to the cause 
of truth, virtue and happiness. And what would be true 
of a single subject of a revival, would be true of its subjects 
generally : they have experienced an influence which is fit- 
ted more than any thing else to bring out their intellectual 
energies, and give them a right direction. 

Moreover, as it is the tendency of a revival to impress 
those who share in it with their obligations to cultivate 
their own powers as God gives them opportunity, it is adapt- 
ed also to awaken in them an active desire for the general 
promotion of useful knowledge. For though they know 
that knowledge is capable of being perverted to the worst 
purposes, and renders a bad man a much more formidable 
enemy to the cause of virtue and happiness than he could 
be without it ; yet they also know that knowledge in itself 
is an important auxiliary to that cause ; and that it were as 
unreasonable to object to it because it is occasionally per- 
verted to bad ends, as it would be to call in question the uti- 
lity of the sun because in his march through the heavens he 
sometimes hghts the path of the robber or the assassin. 
Hence we find that in our own country at least, many of 
the most active promoters of useful knowledge at the pre- 
sent day are to be found among those who have been prac- 
tically taught the great lesson of human responsibility in a 
revival of religion ; and it is reasonable to conclude that in 
' the progress of revivals not only religious knowledge, but 
every other species of knowledge that is fitted to adorn and 
bless society will be regularly advanced. 

But if revivals serve to elevate the intellectual condition 
of men, they operate still more benignly as well as power- 
fully upon their spiritual condition. All who are the sub- 

21 



210 LECTURfc IX. 

jects of them, were previously lying under the curse of God, 
and exposed to his everlasting displeasure. They were 
polluted in their whole moral nature ; were liable not only to 
the fierce upbraidings of a guilty conscience, but to the tyran- 
ny of worldly lusts, and sometimes even to a storm of malig- 
nant passion. In the hour of affliction they had no refuge; 
in the prospect of death, they saw nothing but agony— to 
say nothing of the agony of dying forever. And what has 
the revival done for them ? It has changed their relations 
to God, and brought them within the arms of his forgiving 
mercy, and filled their hearts with the spirit of adoption, 
and opened their lips in thanksgiving and praise. It has 
clothed them with the beauties of a renovated nature, has 
delivered them from their bondage to the earthly, and 
brought them into close alliance with the heavenly ; it has 
secured to them living consolation in all their trouble, and 
given them a pledge that there shall be nothing to harm 
them even in the valley of death. And those who had already 
begun to live to God, it has quickened to a higher tone of 
feeling and action, impressing upon them more deeply their 
Redeemer's image, and rendering them more fit to breathe 
the atmosphere of heaven. This it has done not for a soli- 
tary individual, or for a few individuals only, but for a mul- 
titude ; thus changing the spiritual condition sometimes of 
entire families, and not unfrequently of a large part of an 
extensive community. True it is that this change relates 
especially to the hidden man of the heart, and is for the 
most part beyond the reach of mortal vision ; but it is not 
the less real — not the less momentous : indeed it may be 
considered in an important sense, as the germ of all the 
blessing which a revival of religion secures. 

Equally true is it that the influence of a revival extends 
to the social condition of men. Intelligence and virtue are 
the two main springs of public happiness. But we have 



LECTURE IX. 211 

already seen that it is the tendency of revivals to put the 
mind into active operation on the one hand, and to purify 
the fountains of moral conduct on the other. If the heart 
is changed from the love of sin to the love of holiness, it 
must necessarily result that this change will discover itself 
in all the Christian virtues ; in that very course of conduct 
which makes man a blessing to his fellow man, and converts 
all his social relations into so many channels of benign and 
healthful influence. Hence it is found, in point of fact, and 
in instances almost innumerable, that a revival has reno- 
vated not only the moral but physical aspect of a community; 
has driven away vice ; has encouraged industry ; and has 
caused the social virtues to look forth in smiles, where 
chilling selfishness, or hateful discord, or unblushing crime, 
seemed to have established a perpetual reign. 

Revivals also exert an influence in favor of social hap- 
piness, somewhat less direct, but not less efficient, as they 
have a bearing on the whole machinery of civil govern- 
ment. This is an engine of tremendous power ; and must 
almost of course secure to a people great good or bring 
upon them great evil ; and which side of the alternative is 
to be realized in any given case, must depend on the cha- 
racter of the rulers on the one hand, and the character of 
the people on the. other. Revivals number among their 
subjects not a few men of intellectual distinction, who are 
qualified for the higher stations in society ; and there are 
many others equally gifted, whose character they help to 
form and elevate, who nevertheless do not profess to have 
realized their highest benefit. And while the influence of 
revivals eminently fits these men for office, by bringing 
them under the power of moral or Christian principle, it is 
also some pledge of their elevation to office, as it serves to 
enlighten and purify moral sentiment throughout the com- 
munity. And after they are actually elevated to publio 



212 LECTURE IX. 

stations, the same influence will make them honest, and 
resolute, and faithful to their convictions of duty, even in 
the worst of times ; while on the other hand it will cherish 
in subjects a spirit of obedience, and lead them to co-operate 
with their rulers for the accomplishment of all the good ends 
of government. Let the true spirit of revivals prevail 
through our land, and we shall deserve, in respect to our 
social and civil interests, far more than we now do, the 
appellation of '' a happy people." 

But while such is the immediate effect of revivals upon 
our own public interests, I can not resist the impression, 
that the revivals in this country are destined to exert a 
more remote influence in advancing the general cause of 
human society throughout the world. Where is even the 
superficial observer of human aflfairs, who does not perceive 
that the signs of the times, in respect to the European 
nations, tell fearfully of revolution ? Who needs be told 
that the fabric of society in those nations, which has stood 
firm amidst the shocks of past ages, begins now percepti- 
bly to totter ; and that the day is probably at hand, when 
their civil institutions will be remodelled, and the whole 
face of society receive a new aspect ? Now I do not 
suppose that I claim too much for our country, when I say 
that the eyes of the nations will be more Mkely to be direct- 
ed to her as a model of social and civil renovation than any 
other country on earth. It is no improbable supposition 
then that the influence of our revivals — these very scenes 
of divine power and grace in which we are permitted to 
mingle — may dart across the Atlantic, and be felt at the 
very springs of society there. Yes, those institutions to 
which, under God, we owe so many of our blessings, and 
which are sustained, in a degree at least, by the influence 
which comes from revivals, may be adopted by other 
nations, until there shall be no nation that does not rejoice 



LECTURE IX. 213 

in their light. The testimony of God forbids us to doubt 
that there is a period approaching when the social state of 
man every where, will have reached a point of improve- 
ment far beyond what has ever yet been attained by any 
people. When the light of the millenial morning dawns 
upon the world, it may be easier than now to form an esti- 
mate of the results of revivals in giving proportion, and 
beauty, and strength, to the edifice of human society. 
But, 

2. Revivals tend towards the complete moral renovation 
of the world, by enlarging the mortal resources^ and quick- 
ening and directing the moral energies of the church. 

The church is much indebted to revivals for the increase 
both of her numbers and her graces. Observe this influ- 
ence as it is often exerted in individual cases, and on the 
spiritual interests of particular communities of Christians. 
It were no difficult matter to find many instances which 
have occurred in these latter years, in which hundreds, 
during a single revival, have hopefully become the subjects 
of renewing grace ; and a large proportion of them at least, 
have subsequently evinced the reality of their conversion 
by a holy life. And in many of these cases, a church 
which before barely had an existence, has not only been 
saved from utter extinction, but has been enlarged by great 
accessions to its numbers and influence ; and not unfre- 
quently has been enabled to supply itself with what before 
it did not enjoy — the stated administration of Christian or- 
dinances. And if the influence of a revival be so great and 
good as it respects particular instances and individual 
churches, what shall we say of the influence of all the re- 
vivals which take place during a single year ; much more 
' of all which have hitherto existed, as well as those which 
are hereafter to exist, before the world shall be filled with 

21* 



214 LECTURE IX. 

the glory of the Highest ? How many new churches are 
probably destined to grow up under this influence ! How 
much is the standard of Christian character — of humility, 
of zeal, of devotion, of every thing that pertains to practical 
godliness, yet to be elevated in consequence of these glori- 
ous effusions of the Holy Ghost ! What an immense 
number will have been brought to the table of the Lord, 
and will have been enlisted actively in his service, and will 
count it an honor to wear themselves out in his cause, who, 
but for revivals of religion, might have continued to turn 
their backs upon the Saviour, and even have openly op- 
posed the interests of his kingdom ! And how much is 
our idea of the influence of revivals heightened, when we 
recollect that it is constantly accumulative ; that those 
who are the subjects of one revival, are prepared to labor, 
and actually do labor, for the promotion of others ; and the 
subjects of these revivals in turn address themselves to the 
same work ; and so on in an uninterrupted succession, until 
the Redeemer shall have seen the travail of his soul, and 
been fully satisfied. 

Again ; Revivals increase the efficiency of the Christian 
ministry ; both by increasing the qualifications of those who 
are engaged in it, and by bringing others to give them- 
selves to the work. They serve to raise the tone of minis- 
terial qualification. A minister can learn that in a revival 
which he can scarcely learn in any other circumstances. 
There he enjoys advantages which he can have no where 
else for becoming acquainted with the windings of the hu- 
man heart ; for ascertaining the influence of different truths 
upon different states of feeling ; for learning how to detect 
false hopes and to ascertain and confirm good hopes ; and I 
may add, for getting his soul deeply imbued with the true 
spirit of his work. Accordingly, it has often been remark- 
ed that ministers, after having passed through a revival, 



LECTURE IX. 215 

have preached, and prayed, and done their whole work 
with far more earnestness and effect than before ; and they 
themselves have not unfrequently acknowledged that 
what they had gained, during such a season, has been 
worth more to them than the study of years. 

But revivals contribute also to increase the number of mi- 
nisters. They are the means of introducing many young 
men of talents and promise into the kingdom of Christ ; not 
a small part of whom consecrate themselves to him in the 
ministry of reconciliation. As the population of our own 
country is so rapidly advancing, and as the church is 
waking up to the spiritual desolation both of Christendom 
and of the Pagan world, it is manifest that an immense 
number of ministers are wanted, and are likely to be want- 
ed, to meet this constantly increasing demand. Now then, 
if it were not for our revivals, we can see no alternative 
but that the great work must stand still for want of labor- 
ers, or else it must be prosecuted by men who lack the 
most essential of all qualifications. But here, blessed be 
God, we are saved from both sides of this miserable alter- 
native.. We have young men — truly devoted, as well as 
in many instances, eminently gifted young men, offering 
themselves to the work ; and most of the younger ministers 
of the present generation — as well those who have gone 
abroad as those who labor at home- — date their conversion 
to some revival ; and as the cause of revivals advances in 
coming years, we cannot doubt that there will be a con- 
stantly increasing number directing their eye towards the 
sacred office, until the Saviour's command shall actually 
be obeyed to preach the gospel to every creature. 

Revivals also lend an important influence to the support 
of our benevolent institutions. It is by means of these, 
especially that the gospel is to be sent abroad to the ends of 
the earth ; and the kingdom of Christ every where to be 



216 LECTURE IX. 

established. When you view the inroads which have al- 
ready been made upon the territories of darkness and sin ; 
when you cast an eye toward the wilderness, and see it 
beginning to assume the aspect of moral renovation ; when 
you look off upon the dominions of Paganism, and see how 
many idol gods have fallen from their thrones, how many 
have exchanged rites of superstition and cruelty for a pure 
and rational worship of the true God, how many Christian 
churches and Christian schools are already established, 
and how many Bibles and tracts are in circulation ; when 
you witness all this, I say, you behold nothing which has 
not been accomplished by the benevolent institutions either 
of this or of other lands. Now, this moral machinery, so 
far as our own country at least is concerned, is evidently 
to be sustained and increased chiefly through the influenee 
of revivals. Each individual who is converted to God is a 
new laborer in this glorious cause ; and the multitudes 
who already are, or hereafter will be, born into the king- 
dom, must bring to it an amount of influence of which we 
can form no adequate conception. Besides, it is the ten- 
dency of revivals to make those who are already Christians 
address themselves with more vigor and efficiency to this 
work ; for while, what they witness and experience in 
such a scene is fitted to increase their general spirituality, 
it is especially adapted to make them feel more deeply the 
value of the soul, and the impoitance of laboring for its 
salvation abroad as well as at home to the extent of their 
power. Yes, my friends, it is amidst the eflfusions of the 
Spirit of God that men are trained to engage actively and 
efficiently in the great enterprise of Christian benevolence : 
here they are to have their hearts and their hands opened 
in behalf of those who are sitting in the region and shadow 
of death : here they are to catch that spirit of zeal, and 
self-denial, and holy resolution, which will lead them to 



LECTURE IX. 217 

attempt great things, and by God's blessing to accomplish 
great things, towards the moral renovation of the world. 
I hardly need say that all our great benevolent institutions 
— our Missionary, and Bible, and Tract, and Education, 
and Temperance, and all kindred societies, have flourished 
most where the influences of God's grace have been most 
abundantly experienced ; and 1 am sure that every thing 
in the aspect of Providence indicates that the spirit of revi- 
vals and the spirit of public charity are hereafter to go 
hand in hand ; the one being sustained and cherished in a 
great degree by the other, until the earth shall be filled 
w4th the Redeemer's glory. 

There is one institution which the church uses with 
greater eflfect than almost any other, which, in this country, 
at least, derives its efficiency in no small degree from the 
influence of revivals : I mean the Sabbath school. In order 
to impart to this institution the greatest moral energy, it 
is necessary that there should be a sufficient number of 
teachers able and willing to discharge their duty in the 
best manner, and that all who are the proper subjects for 
Sabbath school instruction should be brought within its 
influence. You will easily see how revivals contribute to 
the accomplishment of both these ends. They multiply 
the number of adequate teachers, by bringing many per- 
sons of intelligence and discretion to a practical knowledge 
of the gospel ; and they not only enlist them in the enter- 
prise, but impart to them a tender concern for the salvation 
of their pupils ; and lead them to regard this rather than 
the bare communication of scriptural knowledge, the ulti- 
mate end of their efforts. They serve also greatly to in- 
crease the number of those who are brought within the 
reach of the benefits of this heaven-born institution. Let 
Sabbath school teachers become deeply imbued with that 
spirit which a revival is fitted to impart to Christians, — a 



218 LECTURE IX. 

spirit of love to the Saviour and love to the souls whom he 
died to redeem, and it will carry them out to the hovels of 
wretchedness, and lead them to gather into this sacred 
enclosure as many as they can : and let parents feel the 
influence of a revival, either in reclaiming them from a 
course of backsliding, or in bringing them for the first time 
to an acceptance of the Saviour, and they too will stand 
ready to co-operate in this noble enterprise by encouraging 
not only their own children, but all with whom they have 
influence, to be found regularly in the Sabbath school. Tt 
were easy to point to many instances of this institution 
being first established in consequence of a revival, and that 
too where no effort of this kind could have been made at 
any preceding period with the least prospect of success j 
and to many more instances in which a revival has raised 
a Sabbath school from a state of extreme depression to that 
of great prosperity. Its numbers have been greatly in- 
creased ; its teachers have been rendered more efficient 
and faithful ; the church have come to regard it with re- 
newed interest ; and even the world have looked upon it 
with favor, and extended to it a cordial and cheering 
patronage. 

I must not omit to say in this connection, that the Sab- 
bath school furnishes a most interesting field for the direct 
action of a revival. I will say nothing here of the peculiar 
advantages which this institution furnishes , for carrying 
forward a work of divine grace, having adverted to that in 
a preceding discourse ; but I refer to the fact, that the 
pupils in the Sabbath school are generally in the morning 
of life, and that a revival in numbering them as its subjects, 
secures in every instance the influence of nearly a whole 
life to the cause of truth and piety. We are accustomed 
to feel, and very properly, that there is special reason for 
thanksgiving to God, when the man who has nearly worn 



LECTURE IX. 219 

out his life in sin, is arrested in his guilty career just as he 
is on the borders of the tomb ; but the peculiar interest 
which we take in such a conversion arises not from any 
expectation we can have of very extensive subsequent 
usefulness, but from the fact that it occurs at so late a 
period, as to furnish a signal instance of sovereign mercy, 
and to be in a peculiar sense as life from the dead. But 
when an individual comes into the kingdom, bringing with 
him the full freshness and vigor of youth, there is occasion 
for joy not merely because, from an heir of hell he has 
become an heir of heaven, but because there is reason to 
hope that he may be long useful in the church, and do 
much for the advancement of the cause of Christ. And 
when the dews of divine grace descend copiously upon a 
Sabbath school, there is an amount of influence secured in 
favor of the interests of the church, which outruns calcu- 
lation. There are many youth saved, it may be, from 
exerting an influence unfriendly to the Redeemer's cause ; 
possibly from being its open enemies ; and they enter at 
once on a course of vigorous effort for its advancement ; 
and some of them may be destined to high places of trust, 
and their influence, whether it be greater or less, whether 
it be exerted for a longer or shorter period, is brought as 
an humble offering to their Saviour and Lord. It is a 
delightful thought that, while the Sabbath school is an 
important auxiliary to the cause of revivals, revivals in 
turn do much to direct and increase the influence of the 
Sabbath school ; rendering it a still more eflficient helper 
to all the great and holy interests of the church. 

There is yet another way in which revivals increase the 

moral energies of the church : I mean by cherishing a 

spirit of prayer for the success of the gospel. The Christian 

[- who has the true spirit of a revival, cannot limit his prayers 

a'ny more than his efforts, to the salvation of those who 



220 LECTURE IX. 

are immediately around him. As he wakes to a more 
impressive sense of the value of the soul, and to the fact 
that the gospel offers the only effectual remedy for its 
moral disorders, he feels a stronger desire that that remedy 
may every where be known and applied, and this desire 
carries him often to the throne of the heavenly grace. 
And no doubt the prayers of Christians for the general 
diffusion of the gospel, which are drawn forth by revivals, 
have much to do instrumentally in setting in motion and 
keeping in motion the great moral machinery of the age ; 
as well as in securing the blessed effects which we see 
produced by it. And as it is now, so we have reason to 
believe it will be in all coming years — the prayers of the 
church which her revivals will secure, will have much, 
very much to do, in carrying forward the triumph of the 
gospel, until the church shall be able to recognise the 
whole world as her habitation, and to record that the work 
that was given her to do has been accomplished. 

Who then but will acknowledge, in review of this article, 
that revivals have already, both by a diiect and indirect 
influence, accomplished wonders toward the renovation of 
the world 1 And what Christian's heart will not bound 
with joy in the prospect of what is yet to be done through 
the same instrumentality ? Let your imagination anticipate 
a period, (how near or how remote I will not venture to 
say,) in which the wilderness, instead of presenting here 
and there a spot of moral verdue, shall every where be as 
the garden of the Lord ; in which Paganism, and Maho- 
medism, and every other false religion, shall have fled from 
the world ; in which every hill and valley shall echo to the 
Redeemer's praises, and the bright light of millenial glory 
spread itself over the whole earth ; let that period come, 
and let the question be asked, whether on earth or in 
heaven, by what means this glorious triumph has been 



LECTURE IX. 221 

secured, and it requires no spirit of prophecy to predict that 
the answer must be, that it has been, in a ^reat degree, by 
revivals of religion. Such then is the grand result of 
revivals as it respects the present world. 

II. And what is it, as it respects the world of glory ? 

It is a vast accession to the felicity of that world. For, 

1. Revivals mims^er directly to the joy of the heavenly 
inhabitants. 

The angels are by no means indifferent spectators of 
these scenes. Our Saviour himself hath declared that " there 
is joy among the angels over one sinner that repenteth." 
Much more then must they rejoice, when multitudes repent 
and believe, and have their destiny for eternity reversed. 
These exalted beings are represented as eagerly penetra- 
ting into the mysteries of redemption ; as employing their 
noble faculties to the utmost to become acquainted with 
this wonderful w^ork ; because, more. than any other, it 
brings out to view the perfections of Jehovah. But it is in 
a revival especially, that this work as it respects individu- 
als, and even the whole church, advances rapidly towards 
its consummation. Here the provision which has been 
made for sinners is appropriated ; the remedy is applied and 
proved to be efficacious. The wisdom, the power, the 
grace, the faithfulness of God, shine forth amidst every such 
scene, with a distinctness and an effulgence, which angels 
cannot contemplate without burning with a loftier and 
more admiring regard for the divine character. Yes, 
we have no reason to doubt that when they cast an eye 
towards our world which is the theatre of redemption, and 
towards our revivals in which this redemption so wonder- 
fully takes effect, they gain deeper, and brighter, and nobler 
views of God, than when they look directly at the glories 
of his throne. 

Another reason of their joy on these occasions is, that 
22 



222 LECTURE IX. 

the benevolence of their nature leads them to delight in the 
happiness of mefi. Though thej know nothing by expe- 
rience of the evils from which the sinner is redeemed, yet 
they know much of the glory to which he is destined : they 
know that he is saved from the miseries of the second 
death ; — that he has a title to an incorruptible inheritance 
secured to him ; — that during his residence on earth, some 
beams of heavenly glory will be let down into his soul ;— - 
and that ere long he will be taken up to be their compa- 
nion, and will advance through everlasting ages, from one 
degree of purity and bliss to another. Inasmuch as, during 
a revival, the change takes place in respect to many indi- 
viduals, which secures to them an exemption from so 
much misery, and the possession of so much glory, how 
natural that the angels, in contemplating this change, 
should rejoice ; how reasonable that there native benevo- 
lence should lead tl:^m to turn an eye of transport toward 
the earth, while they bend with deeper reverence before 
the throne, in view of these wonderful displays of divine 
mercy. 

But while revivals are a source of rich joy to the angels, 
we may suppose that they are so in a still higher degree to 
that part of the population of heaven who have loashed 
their rohes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, 
It is v/ith them, in common with angels, a reason for joy 
that, in these triumphs of divine grace, they gain the most 
glorious view of the divine character ; and also that they 
contemplate in them a mighty addition to the amount of 
human happiness. But there are other circumstances to 
operate in their case, the influence of which angels cannot 
be supposed to feel. They know by actual experience the 
misery of a life of sin, and the danger that is connected 
with it of being cast off forever, and the fearful forebodings 
of eternal torment which have risen under the influence 



LECTtFRE IX. 223 

of a waking conscience ; and they know too on the other 
hand the sweet hope that accompanies the sense of forgive- 
ness, and the sustaining influences of piety in the hour of 
trial, and the cheering prospect that greets the eye of faith 
as it respects the future, and the aid which the soul expe- 
riences from the everlasting arm in the valley of death, and 
finally they know something of the exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory in which the sinner's redemption is consum- 
mated. They are able therefore to form a far more perfect 
estimate than the angels, of the real importance of a revi- 
val of religion, so far as it is connected with the happiness 
of its subjects ; because their experience enables them to 
put the joy that is gained in more striking contrast with 
tho woe that is avoided. They look back to the hole of the 
pit from which they were themselves taken, and then con- 
sider their present condition as kings and priests unto God, 
and the gain of bliss and glory which is secured by one 
revival defies the utmost reach of their laboring concep- 
tions. 

Moreover, it is reasonable to suppose that the joy which 
" the redeemed feel in view of the triumph of God's grace 
on earth, must be heightened in many cases by the rela- 
tions which they have themselves sustained to those who 
are the subjects of a gracious renovation. Suppose the 
glorified parent looks down and sees the children whom he 
left walking in the broad road to death, turning into the 
path to life and setting their faces firmly towards heaven ; 
or suppose the wife beholds her husband, or the sister her 
brother, for whom she had ofifered a thousand prayers but 
had died without seeing them answered, now waking up 
to a concern for his salvation, and laying hold on the hope 
set before him in the gospel, and solemnly dedicating him- 
self to the Lord; or suppose the faithful pastor to have gpne 
down to his grave raourning over the obduracy of hearts 



224 LECTURE IX. 

which he could never reach, and to look down from Mount 
Zion above and see them pierced with conviction, and 
melted in penitence,|and rejoicing in hope ; and I ask you 
whether you do not believe that in each of these cases, 
there would be a new and deeper thrill of joy in the breast of 
that glorified immortal ? Do you not believe that he 
would strike his harp to a higher and nobler note of thanks- 
giving, that those whom he loved while he was on earth 
and whom he still loves though he is in heaven, have not 
only been redeemed by the blood but renewed by the Spi- 
rit of Christ, and are training up to be his companions 
through ages of happiness that will know no end. 

I may say too, reverently, that Jehovah himself rejoices 
in a revival of religion ; for he beholds in it the most pre- 
cious of his own works. In such an event each person in 
the adorable Godhead is eminently glorified by an exhibi- 
tion of the various attributes of the divine character. The 
Father is glorified in the display of that love and wisdom 
in which the plan of redemption originated ; the Son is glo- 
rified in the honor which hereby comes to his mediatorial 
work, and especially in the efficacy which is thus proved to 
belong to his atoning blood : the Holy Ghost is glorified in 
the effectual energy of his operation on the heart ; in 
changing stone into flesh — in new-creating the whole 
man. Here is power, wisdom, mercy, faithfulness, holi- 
ness, every attribute of God, brought out in a Jiving — I had 
almost said, a palpably form. If Jehovah rejoices in his 
own glory, and if that glory is illustrated in the conversion 
of even a single soul, what shall be said of his rejoicing in 
view of a revival of religion — much more of all the revivals 
which will have taken place when the whole number of the 
ransomed of the Lord shall be gathered home. 

2. Revivals tend to the same grand result, by increasing 
the number of the heavenly inhabitants. 



LECTURE IX. 225 

Who can estimate the number that have already not 
only had then' names written among the redeemed, but have 
actually entered through the gate into the city, and taken 
up the anthems of heaven, who but for revivals of religion 
would have had no part nor lot in the matter ? Limit your 
view, if you will, to the result of a single year, and think 
w^hat a mighty accession to the heavenly host is furnished 
by one year's revivals. And then with the promises of 
God and the signs of the times in your eye, let your 
thoughts travel down the tract of coming years, and see 
how much the revivals of each successive year serve to 
increase the population of heaven. And finally anticipate 
the time when this earth shall no longer exist as a theatre 
for the triumphs of redemption, and the ransomed shall all 
be assembled on the plains of immortality ; and behold in 
that vast community a multitude which no man can num- 
ber who date their change of character and destiny to re- 
vivals of religion. And then think of what has been done 
for these myriads of immortals. Fix upon the moment 
when the scene of dying was over, and the spirit was rush- 
ing forth to meet its God ; and estimate the importance of 
the change it has experienced, by all the horror which it 
henceforth avoids, and all the bliss which it henceforth 
attains. All this countless multitude have escaped the 
pollution, and degradation, and wailing of the pit, and have 
risen to the purity, and glory, and ecstacy of heaven. The 
day of the resurrection and the judgment which, but for 
the renovation they have experienced, would have awa- 
kened in them nothing but shame and agony, is a signal for 
exultation and triumph. They walk in the light of the 
Lamb, They know how to use angelic harps. They are 
kings and priests unto God. They go on from glory to 
glory, constantly approaching the perfection of the High- 
est, while immortality endures. Whose mind is not lost in 

22* 



226 LECTURE IX. 

contemplating the amount of felicity which revivals will 
secure to their subjects through all the ages of eternity. 

Pause now for a moment on the eminence to which we 
are brought, and so far as you can, let your eye take in at 
a glance the results of revivals, as they respect both worlds. 
Under their influence see the cause of moral renovation ad- 
vancing, until this earth every where brightens into a field 
of millenial beauty. Behold also the inhabitants of heaven 
kindling with higher raptures in view of these wonderful 
works of God ! Not only those who have been subjects of 
revivals, but those who have not, not only the ransomed 
of the Lord but the principalities and powers in heavenly 
places, and even Jehovah who is over all blessed forever, re- 
joice, and will eternally rejoice, in these triumphs of redeem- 
ing grace. And this joy and glory is not only to be per- 
petual, but to be perpetually progressive. Say then whe- 
ther such results will not justify the church even now in 
beginning her song of triumph ? Which of the angels will 
think she is premature in her praises, if, when she looks 
abroad, and sees what God has wrought for her already 
in her revivals, she should begin to ascribe blessing, and 
honor, and glory, and power, unto him that sitteth upon 
the throne and unto the Lamb ? Be this then the song of 
the church as she travels on here in the wilderness, while 
she rejoices in the smiles, and leans upon the arm, and looks 
forth upon the gracious triumphs of her living Head. Be 
this her song on the morning of the millenial day. Let 
that bright jubilee be ushered in by the echoing and re-echo- 
ing of this hymn of praise all round the arch of heaven. 
Let the church on that glorious occasion count up if she 
can all the revivals which have contributed to her enlarge- 
ment, and brought glory to her Redeemer, and say what so 
well becomes her as to take this language of thanksgiving 
upon her lips. Let this be her song when her enemies have 



LECTURE IX. 227 

all gone into confusion and taken up an eternal wailing ; 
when she is herself glorified and enthroned on the fields of 
immortality J and privileged to walk in the full vision of 
God ; when the complete triumph of redemption, shall every 
where be acknowledged, and shall awaken joy or agony 
that is to endure forever. From the most distant point in 
eternity which an angel's mind can reach, let the church, 
when she remembers these scenes of mercy through which 
she is now passing, still shout forth her high praises in the 
same noble song ; and let seraphim and cherubim, and the 
whole angelic choir of the third heavens, join to increase 
the melody : — " Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, 
be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, 
forever and ever, Amen 1" 



APPENDIX 



LETTER I. 

From the REVEREND ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D. D. 

Professor of Theology in the Theological Seminary, Princeton, N. J. 

Princeton, March 9, 1832. 
Reverend and dear sir, 

In compliance with your request, I send you a few thoughts on 
revivals. I am gratified to learn that you are about to publish some 
Lectures on this interesting subject. I hope they will be extensively 
useful J and if you should judge that any thing which I may write 
would subserve a valuable purpose, you are at liberty to make use of 
this letter as you may think best. 

1, A revival or religious excitement may exist and be very power- 
ful, and affect many minds, when the producing cause is not the Spi- 
rit of God ; and when the truth of God is not the means of the awa- 
kening. This we must believe, unless we adopt the opinion that 
the Holy Spirit accompanies error by his operations as well as truth, 
which would be blasphemous. Rehgious excitements have been 
common among Pagans, Mohammedans, heretics and Papists. And 
in our own time there have been great religious excitements among 
those who reject the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, as for 
example, among the Christ-ianSy who are UnitariarfS, and the J^eio- 
lights or Schismatics of the west, and the Campbellites, who deny 
the proper divinity of our Lord, and the scriptural doctrine of atone- 
ment. The whole religion of the Shakers also, consists in enthusi- 
astic excitement. Hence it is evident, that revivals ought to be dis- 
tinguished into such as are genuine, and such as are spurious. And 
the distinction should depend on the doctrines inculcated, on the 
measures adopted, and the fruits produced. "Beloved," says the 
Apostle John, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether 
they are of God." 



230 APPENDIX. 

^. Again, a revival or religiojus excitement may take place when a 
few persons only are under tlie saving operations of the Holy Spirit : 
but when many are affected by sympathy, and by the application of 
extraordinary means of awakening the feehngs. I have seen a pow- 
erful religious impression pervade a large congregation at once, so 
that very few remained unaffected ; and most expressed their feel- 
ings by the strongest signs ; and yet, as it afterwards appeared, very 
few of them became permanently serious. Besides, when the spirit 
operates savingly on some, there is reason to think that his common 
operations are experienced by many. The minds of the people ge- 
nerally become more serious and tender ; and many are deeply con- 
vinced of the necessity of religion, and engage earnestly in prayer, 
and in attendance on other means of grace. Now while so many 
are affected, but few may be truly converted ; and no human wisdom 
is adequate to discern between those who are savingly wrought 
upon, and those who are only the subjects of the common operations 
of the Holy Spirit. The tree which is covered with blossoms often 
produces httle fruit. The wind which agitates the whole forest, may 
tear up but few trees by the roots. Thus there may be great and 
promising appearances, and yet very little fruit. Temporary behevers 
may use the same language, and exhibit to others precisely the same 
appearance as true converts. This consideration should be sufficient 
to prevent the practice lately introduced, of admitting persons to the 
communion of the church at the very meeting at which they were 
first awakened. There may be cases in which well instructed per- 
sons of known good character, may be received to the Lord^s table, 
as soon as they profess a hope of acceptance with God, but these 
should be considered exceptions to the general rule. Often the im- 
pressions produced at a public meeting, where strong excitements 
are applied to awaken the feelings, are as evanescent as the morning 
cloud or early dew. And many of those who become truly pious, 
entertain for a while, hopes, which they afterwards are convinced to 
be unfounded; and to pronounce such persons converted at once, and 
hurry their admission to the Lord's table, would be the most effectual 
method of preventing their saving conversion. There may be an 
error on the other side, of too long a delay, and of discouraging real 
believers from approaching the table of their Lord ; but the error is 
on the safest side. As to apostolical precedent, it is just as strong 
for a community of goods ; and after all, there is no undoubted case 
of any convert being immediately received to the Lord's supper. 
They were baptized instantly on their profession, but this in our view 



APPENDIX. 231 

is a different thing ; for we admit infants to baptism, but not to the 
other sacrament. And the fact is, that in every part of the world, 
the plan of placing young converts in the class of catechumens, to be 
instructed even prior to their baptism, was adopted. God often leaves 
his servants to find out by experience what is most expedient ; and 
does not teach every thing by inspiration ; as in the case of Moses 
in judging the people of Israel. And if experience has uttered her 
monitory voice clearly on any point, I think she has in regard to this ; 
and I have no doubt that future experience will fully corroborate the 
lessons of the past. 

3. A real work of the spirit may be mingled with much enthusiasm 
and disorder ; but its beauty will hp marred, and its progress retarded 
by every such spurious mixture* Thus also, individuals who are the 
subjects of special grace, may for a while, be carried away with erro- 
neous notions and extravagant feelings. We must not, therefore, 
condemn all as deluded souls, who manifest some signs of enthusiasm* 
But under the same revival or general excitement, while some are re- 
newed and ingrafted into Christ, others may be entirely Undef the 
influence of error, spiritual pride, and delusion. When the son of 
man sows good seed, in his field, will not the enemy be busy in sow- 
ing tares ? And doubtless it often happens, that by the rashness, 
fanaticism, and extravagance of a few persons, especially if they be 
leaders, an ill report may be brought up against a work, in which the 
Spirit of God has been powerfully operating. The opinion that it is 
dangerous to oppose fanaticism, lest we hinder the work of God, is 
most unfounded. We cannot more effectually promote genuine re- 
vivals, than by detecting and suppressing fanaticism ; which is their 
counterfeit, and injures their reputation among inteUigent men, more 
than all other causes. 

4. Often also, there may be much error mingled with the evangelical 
L- truth which is preached in times of revival ; and while God blesses his 
own truth to the conversion of men, the baleful effects of the error 
which accompanies it will be sure to be manifesji.r It may be com- 
pared to the case, where some poisonous ingredient is mingled with 
wholesome food. I might here, perhaps, refer to some sections of our 
own church, where the truth is not clearly inculcated ; and it might be 
shown that there is danger of error on both extremes. But I choose 
rather to refer to those churches, which we all think to be erroneous 
in certain points. No denomination among us has had more frequent 
and extensive revivals than the Methodists, and we have no doubt 
that multitudes have been truly converted under their ministry ; but the 



232 APPENDIX. 

effect of their errors is manifest to an impartial observer. The same 
remark holds good respecting the Cumberland Presbyterians, who 
greatly resemble the Methodists in their doctrines, and modes of pro- 
moting and conducting revivals. And as an example from the oppo- , 
site extreme, I w^ould mention that portion of the Baptist church, 
which is tinctured with Antinomianism. They have revivals also, 
but their mode of treating the subjects is widely different from that of 
the sects last mentioned. 

5. But I come now to speak of genuine revivals, where the gospel is 
preached in its purity, and where the people have been well instructed 
in the doctrines of Christianity. In a revival, it makes the greatest 
difference in the world whether the people have been carefully taught 
by catechising, and where they are ignorant of the truths of the Bible. 
In some cases revivals are so remarkably pure, that nothing occurs 
with which any pious man can find fault. There is not only no wild- 
ness and extravagance, but very little strong commotion of the animal 
feelings. The word of God distils upon the mind like the gentle rain, 
and the Holy Spirit comes down like the dew, diffusing a blessed in- 
fluence on all around. Such a revival affords the most beautiful sight 
ever seen upon earth. Its aspect gives us a lively idea of what will 
be the general state of things in the latter-day glory, and some 
faint image of the heavenly state. The impression on the minds of 
the people in such a work are the exact counterpart of the truth ; just 
as the impression on the wax corresponds to the seal. In such revivals 
there is good solemnity and silence. The convictions of sin are deep 
and humbling : the justice of God in the condemnation of the sinner 
is felt and acknowledged ; every other refuge but Christ is abandon- 
ed ; the heart at first is made to feel its own impenetrable hardness ; 
but when least expected, it dissolves under a grateful sense of God's 
goodness, and Christ's love ; light breaks in upon the soul either by a 
gradual dawning, or by a sudden flash ; Christ is revealed through 
the gospel, and a firm and often a joyful confidence of salvation 
through Him is produced ; a benevolent, forgiving, meek, humble and 
contrite spirit predominates — the love of God is shed abroad-^and 
with some, joy unspeakable and full of glory, fills the soul. A spirit 
of devotion is enkindled. The word of God becomes exceedingly 
precious. Prayer is the exercise in which the soul seems to be in its 
proper element, because by it, God is approached, and his presence 
felt, and beauty seen : and the new-born soul lives by breathing after 
the knowledge of God, after communion with God, and after confor- 
mity to his will. Now alao springs up in the soul an inextinguish- 



APPENDIX. 233 

able desire to promote the glory of God, and to bring all men to the 
knowledge of the truth, and, by that means to the possession of 
eternal life. The sincere language of the heart is, " Lord, what 
would.' t thou have me to do ?" That God may send upon his church 
many such revivals, is my daily prayer ; and many such have been 
experienced in our country, and I trust are still going forward in our 
churches. 

6. But it has often occurred to me — and I have heard the same 
sentiment from some of the most judicious and pious men that I have 
known — that there must be a state of the church preferable to these 
temporary excitements, which are too often followed by a deplorable 
state of declension, and disgraceful apathy and inactivity. Why not 
aim at having a continuous lively state of piety ; and an unceasing 
progress in the conversion of the impenitent, without these dreadful 
seasons of deadness and indifference ? Why may we not hope for 
such a state of increasing prosperity in the church, that revivals shall 
be no longer needed : or if you prefer the expression, when there 
shall be a perpetual revival ? Richard Baxter's congregation seems 
for many years to have approximated to what is here supposed ; and 
perhaps that of John Brown of Haddington, and Dr. Romaine of 
London. And in this country, I have know^n a very few congrega- 
tions in which a lively state of piety was kept up from year to year. 

7. We cannot, however, hmit the Holy One, nor prescribe modes 
of operation for the Spirit of God. His dispensations are inscrutable, 
and it is our duty to submit to his wisdom and his will ; and to go on 
steadily in the performance of our own duty. If He, the Sovereign, 
chooses to water his church by occasional showers, rather than with 
the perpetual dew of his grace ; and this more at one period, and in 
one continent, than at other times and places, we should rejoice and 
be grateful for the rich effusions of his Spirit in any form and manner; 
and should endeavor to avail ourselves of these precious seasons, for 
the conversion of sinners, and the edification of the body of Christ. 
In the natural world the cold and barren winter regularly succeeds 
the genial and growing seasons of spring and summer ; and there 
may be an analogy to this vicissitude in the spiritual world. One 
thing we arc taught, that believers stand in need of seasons of severe 
trial, that they may be purified, as the precious metals are purged 
from their dross in the heated furnace. Paul says, " For there must 
be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made 
manifest." 

8. As genuine revivals are favorable to truth and orthodoxy, so 

23 



234 APPENDIX. 

spurious excitements furnish one of the most effectual vehicles for 
error and heresy. The church is not always benefited by what are 
termed revivals ; but sometimes the effects of such commotions are 
followed by a desolation which resembles the track of the tornado. 
I have never seen so great insensibility in any people as in those who 
had been the subjects of violent religious excitement; and I have 
never seen any sinners so bold and reckless in their impiety as those 
who had once been loud professors, and foremost in the time of revival. 
If I had time, I might illustrate this remark by a reference to the great 
revival of the west, which commenced about the close of the year 
1800 in the south part of Kentucky ; and by which the Presbyterian 
church in that region was for so many years broken, and distracted, 
and prostrated — but I must forbear. "When people are much excited, 
their caution and sober judgment are diminished ; and when preachers 
are ardently zealous in revivals, serious people do not suspect them 
of holding errors, or of entertaining the design of subverting the truth. 
It is also a fact that the teachers of false doctrine, do sometimes art- 
fully associate their errors with revivals, and by continually insinuating 
or openly declaring, that revivals only take place in connection with 
their new theology, they succeed in persuading those who have more 
zeal than knowledge, that all who oppose their errors, are the enemies 
of revivals. This artifice has often been played off with much effect ; 
and they have sometimes gone so far as to deny the genuineness of 
great revivals which occurred under the ministry of those holding 
opinions different from their own ; or who neglected to bring into 
operation all the newly invented apparatus of revivals. 

You may, perhaps, expect me to say something respecting what 
are called new measures ; but as I am out of the way of witnessing 
the actual operation of these means, I will not venture on a discussion 
which is both delicate and difficult, farther than to mention some 
general results, which from a retrospect of many facts, I have adopted, 
in regard to revivals of religion. On each of these I might largely 
expatiate, but my prescribed limits forbid it. 

All means and measures which produce a high degree of excitement, 
or a great commotion of the passions, should be avoided ; because 
rehgion does not consist in these violent emotions, nor is it promoted 
by them; and when they subside, a wretched state of deadness is 
sure to succeed. 

The subjects of»religious impressions ought not to be brought 
much into public notice. It ought not to be forgotten, that the heart 
IS deceitful above all things, and that strong excitement does not 



APPEI^IX. 235 

prevent the risings of pride and vainglory. Many become hypocrites 
when they find themselves the objects of much attention, and affect 
feelings which are not real ; and where there is humility and sincerity, 
such measures turn away the attention from the distinct contemplation 
of those subjects which ought to occupy the mind. 

On this account, I prefer having the anxious addressed and in- 
structed as they sit undistinguished in their seats, rather than calling 
them out to particular pews, denominated anxious seats : and if the 
pastor can visit the awakened at their houses, it would be better than 
to appoint meetings expressly for them. But as this cannot be done, 
when the number is great, these meetings may be necessary ; but 
instead of attempting to converse with each individual, let the preacher 
address suitable instruction and advice to all at once ; and if any are 
in great trouble and difficulty, let them come to the minister's house, 
or send for him to visit them. 

All measures which have a tendency to diminish the solemnity of 
divine worship, or to lessen our reverence for God and divine things, 
are evidently wrong ; and this is uniformly the effect of excessive 
excitement. Fanaticism often blazes with a glaring flame, and agi- 
tates assemblies as with a hurricane or earthquake ; but God is not 
in the fire, or the wind, or the earthquake. His presence is more 
commonly with the still small voice. There is no sounder character- 
istic of genuine devotion, than reverence. When this is banished, 
the fire may burn fiercely, but it is unhallowed fire. Fanaticism, 
however much it may assume the garb and language of piety, is its 
opposite: for while the latter is mild, and sweet, and disinterested, 
and respectful, and affectionate, the former is proud, arrogant, censo- 
rious, selfish, carnal, and when opposed, malignant. 

The premature and injudicious publication of revivals, is now a 
great evil. There is in these accounts often a cant which greatly 
disgusts sensible men ; and there is an exaggeration which confounds 
those who know the facts ; and it cannot but injure the people con- 
cerning whom the narrative treats. But I must desist. 
I am respectfully and affectionately 
Yours, 

A. ALEXANDER. 

Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D, 



LETTER II. 

From the REVEREND FRANCIS WAYLAND, D. D. 

President of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. 

Providence J March 7, 1832. 
Reverend AND DEAR SIR, 

You have requested me to give you some accoiint of the revivals 
with which I have been acquainted, and specially of those which have 
occurred in the denomination to which I belong. So large a portion 
of my life has been devoted to the business of instruction, and having 
been permitted to witness but one general revival in a literary institu- 
tion, I regret to say, that I am far less able to comply with your request, 
than many others of my brethren. I have, however, frequently visited 
congregations and places during seasons of revival, and have been in 
habits of intimacy with many of my brethren who have enjoyed such 
seasons, and have been thus, in various instances, acquainted with the 
whole progress of the work. I merely mention these circumstances 
to show you just how far the subsequent opinions are worthy of credit. 
Having done so, I will proceed, and offer such remarks as my limited 
observation and experience have suggested on the subject. 

I. I believe in the existence of revivals of religion, as much as I believe 
in any other fact, eitlier physical or moral. By revivals of religion I 
mean special seasons in which the minds of men, within a certain dis- 
trict, or in a certain congregation, are more than usually susceptible 
of impression from the exhibition of moral truth. The eflfects of this 
special influence are manifest on ministers and hearers, both converted 
and unconverted. Ministers are more than usually desirous of the 
conversion of men. They possess, habitually, an unusual power of 
presenting the simple truths of the gospel directly to the consciences 
of their hearers, and feel a peculiar consciousness of their own weak- 
ness and insufficiency, and at the same time a perfect reliance upon 
the efficacy of the gospel, through the agency of the Spirit, to convert 
men. Every minister of the gospel has, I presume, enjoyed this feel- 



APPENDIX. 237 

mg occasionally in his addresses to his fellow men, and every one has, 
I fear, felt that to possess it habitually is one of his most difficult attain- 
ments. Christians, during periods of revival, are characterized by an 
unusual spirit of penitence, of confession of sin, and of prayer, by a 
desire for more holiness, and specially by a tender concern for the sal- 
vation of souls. Unconverted persons are more desirous to hear the 
gospel, and particularly the plainest and simplest exhibitions of it ; 
they readily listen to conversation on the subject, and seem to expect 
it. Truths which they have frequently heard with total unconcern 
they now hear with solemn and fixed attention ; and in many cases^ 
for days together, scarcely a sermon will be preached, or an exhorta- 
tion offered, which is not made effectual to the conviction or conversion 
of one or more souls. 

Seasons of this sort commence in various ways. Sometimes a whole 
congregation is simultaneously impressed with the importance of reli- 
gion. At other times a single striking conversion spreads its effect 
gradually over the whole. Sometimes the unconverted are awakened 
while the church yet slumbers. But more frequently Christians be- 
come convinced of their lukewarmness, and return to God by repent- 
ance, and through them the Holy Spirit is shed abroad upon the un- 
converted. That such seasons as these have been and still are wit- 
nessed, in almost every part of our country, can no more be doubted 
than the shining of the sun at noon-day. 

II. I next inquire what means have been most successfully used 
for the obtaining of this blessing. 

1. On the part of the church, putting away all known sin. The 
enforcement of strict discipline, the universal engagement in behalf of 
temperance, the renewal of covenant engagement with God, more 
universal separation from the world, have all been frequently followed 
by seasons of revival. 

2. Setting apart seasons of fasting, and prayer, and humiliation, 
both individually and collectively, has very commonly been attended 
with a blessing. Those seasons which have been followed by most 
powerful revivals, have been marked by unusual confession of sin, 
deep humility, earnest longing for the salvation of others, specially of 
parents for children, and of relatives for relatives. In innumerable 
cases, such prayers have been in a remarkable manner answered. 

3. The more frequent and more faithful preaching of the gospel, 
has been generally followed by increase of religious attention in a con- 
gregation. Ordinarily, ministers in New-England have formerly 

23* 



238 APPENDIX. 

preached twice on the Sabbath day, and once on an evening of the 
week. Of late, however, the number of services has much increased. 
Most churches have three services on the Sabbath, when they can be 
procured, and meetings for rehgious improvement frequently during 
the week. These meetings have been of various kinds. Some- 
times the families in a neighborhood have been invited to spend 
an hour in religious services. At other times, particular classes of so- 
ciety have met separately for this purpose. For instance, parents, 
fathers, mothers, young men, young men in business, persons in middle 
age, havemet and have been addressed in -relation to their own partic- 
ular case. Meetings for conference, or for exhortation and prayer, by 
lay brethren, have been very common, and have been very usefuL 
Perhaps few means have, however, been attended with more invaria- 
bly good effect, than the establishment of bible classes. These, I need 
not say, are associations for the purpose of studying the sacred scrip- 
tures, conducted by a minister, or some competent person. I perhaps._^ 
should not err in saying that revivals have more commonly commenced 
in bible classes than any where else. Within a few years also, pro- 
tracted meetings, or meetings for the purpose of continuing religious 
services for three or four days in succession, have been attended with 
good success. Such meetings have rarely been held without being 
followed by hopeful conversions. Like any other special means of 
religious improvement, however, they need to be carefully guarded to 
prevent their falling into abuse. I have no doubt that experience will 
suggest such rules concerning the best mode of conducting them, as 
will enable Christians to derive the benefit which they confer, without 
suffering the evil which in some cases, it has been said, they have pro- 
duced. That they have, in most instances with which I have been 
personally acquainted, been attended with a decided preponderance 
of good effect, so far as their results have been at present developed, 
I have no reason to doubt. 

The doctrines which have been most successfully exhibited in the pro- 
motion of revivals of rehgion, I think have been those which are pecuhar 
to the gospel of Christ. Of these I believe the following to be some of 
the most important — The entire want of hohness in all men by nature • 
the justice of God in the everlasting condemnation of sinners ; the 
exceeding sinfulness of sin ; the total inabihty of man, by his own 
works to reconcile himself to God ; the sufficiency, freedom and ful- 
ness of th€ atonement; the duty of immediate repentance, and faith in 
Jesus Christ ; the inexcusableness of delay ; the exhibition of the re- 
fug/^'s of lies under which sinners hide themselves ; the sovereignty of 



APPENDIX. 239 

God in the salvation of sinners ; the clear exhibition of the truth that 
he is under no manner of obhgation to save them ; and the necessity 
of the agency of the Spirit of God to the conversion of any individual 
of the human race. 

III. The objects that should be aimed at in conducting a revival 
of religion, are few and simple. Some of them are, I think, the 
following : 

1. To cultivate the deepest piety in Christians. Hence they need 
to be exhorted frequently to self-examination, secret prayer, self-denial, 
and the cultivation of the special graces of the Spirit. At such times 
the temptation is strong to exhibit our religion before the world. 
When this becomes the case it soon languishes and the power of a 
revival passes away. 

2. To improve the season as faithfully as possible to the conversion 
of sinners. This will be accompHshed, 1. By rendering all the preach- 
ing as plain, scriptural, faithful and affectionate as God shall enable 
us. 2. By extending the means and increasing the amount of religious 
instruction. I see no reason why judicious laymen, provided they 
are experienced Christians, should not under the general direc- 
tion of the pastor, hold neighborhood meetings in various parts of a 
congregation. In this manner multitudes in every place, and espe- 
cially in large towns, would be brought within the hearing of the gos- 
pel, who never enter a place of worship. 3. By personal conversa- 
tion, to as great an extent as possible, with those whose minds are at 
all impressed with the importance of religion, for the sake of removing 
difficulties, dispelling ignorance, and leading them to the Saviour. 

3 I suppose we should aim so to conduct our efforts during a revi- 
val of religion, as to prolong it as much as possible ; or what is still 
better, to render it the permanent religious state of a congregation. 
Several means will probably conduce to this. 1. We may so multi- 
ply religious meetings, as to weary men's minds and bodies by the 
continuous effort of attention. When this effect is produced, their 
capacity for feeling is exhausted. On the contrary, by keeping within 
the limit designated by the laws of the human constitution, men's 
attention may be directed to the subject for any period whatever. 
2. By creating no collision between religious and other duties. If 
other duties are neglected for a season, the conviction of this neglect 
will soon form an excuse for a subsequent neglect of the duties of reli- 
gion. 3. By avoiding the mere excitation of the passions, and striving 
simply to arouse and quicken the conscience. Duty is, in its nature, 



240 APPENDIX. 

fixed, permanent, stable ; passion noisy, variable and uncertain. It 
is from want of this distinction that the results of many revivals havs 
so greatly disappointed the hopes the church. 

IV. There are some thitigs which experience has taught us the 
importance of guarding against^ in revivals of religion. Such are the 
following : 

1. Reliance on means, instead of rehance upon the Spirit of God. 
Seeing particular, and sometimes unusual means attended by a 
blessing, both ministers and people are prone to indulge the feeling 
that the efficacy resides in the means. They see particular exhibitions 
of truth, protracted meetings, &c., followed by conversions, and they 
are too likely to feel as though there were some combination of means 
by which men may certainly be converted. Thus reliance on the 
Spirit of God is forgotten ; a spirit of self-confidence succeeds to a 
spirit of prayer, and God leaves the work in the hands of men. I 
need not say that it immediately ceases. 

2. A tendency to exaggeration is specially to be avoided. Men 
who desire to convince others, are always liable to use stronger lan- 
guage than the cool consideration of the case will w^arrant. It is so 
here. I do not mean to assert that the truth is represented too 
strongly. This cannot be. But a stress is frequently laid upon trivial 
circumstances, for the sake of immediate efiect ; plain truths are often 
represented in so novel alight, or surrounded with so unusual imagery, 
that they have the efiect upon a plain congregation, of false doctrine. 
We can never improve upon the sayings of Christ, nor present the 
doctrines of the gospel in a dress better adapted to the human mind 
than he has done. As an illustration of the nature of this tendency 
to exaggeration, I would remark -that I have known ministers urge 
persons to wait, after the congregation was dismissed, for the purpose 
of being prayed for, in such terms as would have led us to believe 
that their salvation absolutely turned upon this very point. Now I 
will not say that a person's salvation may not turn upon such a point 
as this, but I ask, is this the general rule ? Does the Bible authorize 
us to state it thus to a congregation? 

3. A tendency to spiritual pride needs frequently to be corrected. 
Young converts are often put forward too rapidly, and induced to 
address congregations. These exhortations are sometimes attended 
with good effects, and are, by the injudicious, applauded. Hence 
they are prone to vanity, self-exaltation, and censoriousness. The 
same effect is produced in Christians who are trusting to the means 
of grace, instead of relying on the Spirit of God. These indications 



APPENDIX. 241 

need to be repressed by faithfulness and independence on the part of 
the ministry. In opposition to ail this, I know it may be said, that a 
revival is a season of harvest, and we must labor differently from our 
usual manner. I answer, granted. But I ask, are we to work harder 
in a season of harvest than in a season of seed time ? Should we not 
always work for God with our whole itiight, and should we, or others, 
work, or can we work, beyond that might ? Should a man work so, 
on the first day of his harvest, that he and all his fellow laborers would 
be disenabled from labor during the remainder of the season ? And, 
secondly. Whether it be seed time or harvest, God expects us to labor 
according to the laws, to which he has subjected this and every other 
labor. What should we think of a farmer who went to work upon 
his wheat field, cutting down and trampling under foot the rich bless- 
ings of autumn, and alleging as his reason, that it was harvest time, 
and he must work hard, for it would soon be over ? If it will soon be 
over, the reason is the stronger why we should lay out our labor to 
the greatest effect. And our labor will be laid out to the greatest 
eflfect, by conducting it according to the laws which God has enacted. 

These, my dear sir, are a few of the reflections which have occurred 
to me in attempting to comply with your request. I have been obliged 
to study brevity, and fear that, in many cases, I may not have made 
myself perfectly understood. I have been obliged to write in haste, 
and in imperfect health. Should any thing have been written which 
can be of the least use to any of my brethren, I shall have cause for 
thankfulness. That this may be the result, is the sincere desire of, 

Dear sir. 

Yours truly, 

R WAYLAND. 

The Rev. Dr. Sprague, Albany. 



LETTER III. 

FrOxM the reverend DANIEL DANA, D. D. 

Newburyport, ^lassachusetts. 

J^eioburyport, March 22, 1832. 
Reverend and dear sir, 

I rejoice that you have been led to preach at large on the subject of 
^ Revivals ;" and still more, that the instruction you have given your 
people, is likely, through the press, to become the common property 
of the religious public. 

The unparalleled mercy w^ith which God has visited, and is still 
visiting, his American churches, excites our increasing wonder. It 
should pour a tide of holy gratitude and joy into every heart. 

Still we have reason to "rejoice with trembling." Spiritual 
prosperity, not less perhaps than temporal, has its peculiar dangers. 
Should those revivals which seem to be overspreading our land, lose 
their heavenly character ; should they degenerate into mere animal, 
or enthusiastic, or artificial excitements ; they would cease to be 
blessings. Their progress would be marked with desolation and 
spiritual death. To preserve them, then, in all their genuine, unsul- 
lied purity, should be the first object. This, I know, is your favorite 
object ; and in its pursuit, you have the concurring wishes and prayers 
of every enlightened friend of God and man in the community. 

On this most interesting point, you have been pleased to request 
some thoughts from me. And though I have little sanguine hope of 
meeting your expectations, yet as your request has the force of a 
command, I will ofier a few desultory hints. 

If all genuine rehgion is based on truth, it follows that every de- 
parture from truth, and every admixture of error, in religious instruc- 
tion, tends to undermine the foundations of piety. Nor can it be 
denied that even the concealment of truth has a similar general ten- 
dency. These remarks are of universal application. But to no sub- 
ject do they apply so forcibly, as to our protracted meetings. To 
these scenes multitudes resort to learn more of religion than they ever 



APPENDIX. 

243 

begin to hear without p^:^^^^^^^^ ZuXl t^"' '°^ ^^ '''' '""'' 
which will ^H^r.A .u J, ''^^* ^^'^ ^^e liable to receive impressions 

etnall^Hd to^Xtr^t."'^' "^"^ '"'^^^'-P^"^ ^^ "> '"« 
eminently demandsa n, ^''''^'"^"'' *'^ - Ae time which pre- 

script. Jdotrs Th^^l%h:ZeT' ""''^^""'^' .^^''°^''^°" °^ 
-ence anH in .11 •. ^ i ™^ *^ P^''^ ^^^th in all its efful- 

willlTrnZeTbTa "'^T^*^'^"^P"'°'■°"^^-*-'^ — g« 
ourow^T ^ ='"y<=«taztoe„t,or addition, or modification, of 

gofpd'trutt totot"'"" '•""'' '° '^P"' '■^°'" *^ simplicity of 
lineLen s ^nd ^1^^ "r '"'^''^"^^ ^ *° ^°"°" ^°"'" '''harfher 
fastidioust; te of thfre^ir t"' ^^^ '-"ff^- *» the 
their orthodoxy, coalescl^lithMf";^'"'^ "'"'.'""'' "^'^'"^^'^''^ °" 
and make reason the fin!!*^'"'™"' '" '^''' grand error ; 
/a/.e M«o4/rexe cisinlT'" ITT' '' ^^"»'°" ^ ^^ "°' ^ 
doctrines; repea .nT bfac! r^',^"'^^"' '"«-"- «» Christian 
.tretchin J or mutilatl th! ' ," ' ^^P-''"^"' °f Procrustes, and 
That hetleenlt2!lT ^ " ''"'"'''"^"' "'* ''^ °-" "o-^^I^ 
there can be L reardi! ^'^''^^^P'^^' ^'"d ^^^ doctrines of the gospel, 

fromthesa^-ratrnESh*^^^^^^^^^^^ 

::::t:Li:raT;-'.: -V" '"-- -^^^^^^^^^^^ 

trines of ^^^^XS^^::^^^ ^^ ^° ^^ '^ 
not that the attemnt i<, ..tto i '^^^^^^'^- This, however, proves 

-yyetarise,l7;iSre'h:"'"/°"''' ™^^*'^^ ^P'"* 
in the Bible ; powS enTuX, ''"7,^" ">■"''' »"d deeply studied 

and to^raprfe J^th 1 ^ '!? *' ''''' '™*' "^ philosophy, 
thing anew at tl fe 1 %T ' "' '^"""^ ''"""^'^ *° '-™ --y 
pouriightrth lo/r °th "":, f"'' ^ ^P'"' ™="^' ^""-hto 
and to reducet'c £ to^-J 'tZl:' t'^'f^" '""^P''^'^'-' 
with safety, and with deli" ht ""''"' ^' ""«''' "^'^" 

While the enterprise; spirit of the age i. accomplishing ,„ch 



244 APPENDIX. 

wonders in art, and even in science, numbers seem to anticipate 
corresponding improvements in theology. But with little reason. If 
any essential truths are to break out from the Bible in the nineteenth 
century of Christianity, the Bible has been given in vain. It has 
failed to accomplish its grand object. We hope, indeed, that many 
of its great doctrines will be better understood. In other words, we 
hope that the darkness with which a false learning and a false phi- 
losophy have shrouded them, will be dispelled, and they will be seen 
by their own light. Improvements in religious knowledge come in a 
different way from most other improvements. They are the fruit, not 
of ambitiou#toiI, or of bold speculation ; but of humility, of self-dis- 
trust, of calm reflection, of ceaseless inquiry at the Heavenly Oracle, 
and of fervent prayer to the Father of lights. The fear of the Lord is 
the beginning of this wisdom. To approach the Bible, or any of its 
sacred truths, without reverence, without a holy, trembling caution, 
is to be disquahfied, not only to teach, but even to learn. Here, men 
are ordinarily bold and self-confident in proportion to their ignorance. 

Where men of judgment creep, and feel their way, 
The positive pronounce without dismay. 

How disastrous is it for religion, when men of this stamp become the 
oracles of the day ; teaching what they have not learned ; condemning 
what they have never understood ; confident, where a little reflection 
would teach them to doubt ; and breathing their own spirit into their 
admiring, deluded followers. 

A special cause of doctrinal error and corruption is found in that 
excitement which frequently attends revivals of religion ; and particu- 
larly, lengthened religious meetings. In these cases, the imaginations 
and feelings of men being powerfully roused, the plain truths of the 
gospel pall upon their ears, and they demand something more novel, 
more startling, more overwhelming. The contagion reaches the 
preacher. His own imagination and feelings are kindled ; and he 
longs to utter something which shall irresistibly seize every heart. 
In the ardor of the moment, and perhaps with the best intentions, he 
utters a sentiment which his cool judgment w^ould have condemned, 
and which the Bible condemns. But it enkindles thought and feeling. 
It thrills a whole assembly. Thus sanctioned, it flies forth on every 
Hvind ; and it remains to trouble the church for ages. 

If doctrinal errors are to be deprecated, as hostile to the purity of 
revivals, errors in experimental and practical religion are still more 
immediately dangerous and fatal. 



APPENDIX, 245 

In the extraordinary meetirfgs to which we have alluded, the 
preaching generally assumes the hortatory character. Undoubtedly 
it ought to embrace powerful and affecting appeals to the conscience, 
and the heart. But this is not enough. It should abound in instruc- 
tion respecting the distinguishing nature and evidences of genuine 
piety. Such instruction, so far from being, as is sometimes supposed, 
unsuited to the occasion, is eminently appropriate and needful. If men 
are to be urged to religion with unusual energy, let them know what 
religion is. If the very circumstances under which they assemble, 
expose them to mistake mere natural excitement or sympathy for piety, 
let the mistake not be cherished, but counteracted. Religion should, 
indeed, be exhibited in all its beauty and loveliness ; in all its divine 
and attractive charms. But we may not conceal its spirituality, its 
difficulties, or its self-denials. We may not depress its high demands, 
nor narrow its broad requisitions. We cannot speak to sinners too 
emphatically of their obligation to immediate repentance ; of the guilt 
and danger of delay ; nor of their encouragement to give themselves 
to religion ; nor of the absolute certainty thatif they truly seek, they 
shall obtain its blessings. Nor can we employ too much pains to 
wrest from them their ten thousand excuses for impenitence. Still, 
we may not suffer them to forget their deep depravity ; their insuffi- 
ciency ; their dependence on sovereign mercy ; nor the necessity of 
divine influence to change their hearts. True ; these things are re- 
garded by many, as overstatements of gospel doctrine ; points which 
the Christian preacher is called, not so much to expound and enforce, 
as to explain away. But the great majority of the Christian church 
have ever viewed them as simple Bible truths ; and they have con- 
sidered it as most honorable to the Bible to receive them in their sim-? 
plicity, and open their hearts to their influence. Others, too, who 
cannot but confess that these are plain and prominent points of scrip- 
ture, are much disquieted as to their tendency; and think that, if 
inculcated at all, they should be inculcated with much caution, and 
much quaUfication. But is it not safe to declare the gospel message? 
Is there any danger Uke that of concealing or distorting it? If truth 
may be perverted to men's ruin, is not error necessarily destructive ? 
If, from the very doctrines which should alarm, and rouse to action, 
they will draw argument for sloth, or despondence, or presumption, 
will not the error be voluntary and criminal on their part, and their 
destruction entirely of their own procuring ? 

Are there not certain characteristics of the age, which threaten, m 
a greater or less degree, the purity of religion ? 

24 



246 APPENDIX. 

It is eminently an age of action. On every subject, in every de- 
partment of science, and of life, the human mind seems roused to an 
unv^^onted energy ; an almost unparalleled activity. The religious 
world has awoke from a long and most lamentable slumber. Not 
content with barren wishes and prayers for the conversion of the im- 
penitent, and of the heathen world, it puts its faculties to the work. 
It vigorously employs the appropriate means. This is matter of the 
liveliest gratitude and joy. Yet even here, there arises danger. IfJ 
through multiplied active engagements, ministers or private Christians 
shall be drawn away from their closets ; from communion with their 
hearts, and their God ; their piety will languish and decline. With 
new converts, with those whose character and habits are in the form* 
ing state, the case is still more critical. The}?^ too must prepare for 
action ; vigorous, benevolent, holy action. And this preparation 
must be made in the closet. It must be the fruit of retirement, of 
meditation, of self- converse, of prayer. "Without these, they may 
have the form, the features, and apparently the activities, of living^ 
Christians ; but the "informing, animating spirit will be absent. 
Without these, they may do something to save the souls of others ; 
but too probably, they will lose their own. 

This is likewise an age of display. Almost every thing new pushes 
itself into notice, courts the public gaze, and claims the public admi- 
ration. But religion, genuine religion, is modest, unobtrusive, and 
humble. It seeks not public applause. It is content with the notice 
and approbation of God. These characteristics constitute not only 
its beauty, but in some measure, its very essence. A vain, ambitious, 
popularity-seeking Christian is almost as great a solecism as a 
profane, or prayerless Christian. Should this spirit once enter our 
churches, it will sadly mar their beauty, and consume the very vitals 
of their religion. Let us beware of it in all its forms, and all its ap- 
proaches. Let us especially, in all the arrangements of our protracted 
meetings, and in all our treatment of inquirers, and young converts, 
avoid and discountenance, as much as possible, the pernicious spirit 
of display. 

In adverting to the causes by which religious revivals are corrupted, 
I intended to have noticed the evil of precipitate 'admissions of sup- 
posed converts into the church. But I have already protracted my 
remarks beyond my intention ; and this topic, as well as some others, 
must be waived. 

In reviewing what I have written, I perceive that the spirit of ani- 
madversion has been somewhat freely indulged. Yet I humbly hope 



APPENDIX. 247 

that nothing has been marked with disapprobation which the great 
Head of the church approves. If any thing is to be found on earth, 
which has much of heaven in it, it is a genuine revival of rehgion. 
But in this imperfect state, nothing can pass through human hands 
entirely unsoiled. It is a delightful thought, that He who loved the 
church, and gave himself for it, will finally present it to himself, a 
glorious church, without spot or wrinkle. It is my prevailing hope 
and belief, that the great things which God has already done for his 
American Israel, are precursors of still greater things. May He 
cleanse our Zion " by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of 
burning." And may He "purify the sons of Levi, that they may 
offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness." May our beloved 
land, and may the whole earth, soon behold the glory of the Lord, 
and rejoice in his salvation. 

Adieu, my dear sir. Accept my sincerest wish, that all your 
efforts to do good, and especially the present, may be crowned with 
an abundant blessing. 

With much esteem and friendship, I am 

Your brother in the gospel, 

P, DANA. 

Rev. Dr. Sprague. 



LETTER IV. 

From thu REVEREND SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. 

Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government in the Theological 
Seminary at Princeton, New Jei*sey. 

Reverend and dear brother. 

You request from me a historical sketch of some of those disorders 
which have so often attended and disgraced revivals of rehgion. 
The task is so arduous and so dehcate, that you must excuse me if I 
shrink from it, especially in any thing like the extent which you seem 
to contemplate. Yet I feel so much interest in your proposed publi- 
cation, that I dare not wholly decline a compliance with your request. 
You must be content, however, with a few general remarks, instead 
of an attempt to give a regular or systematic view of the proposed 
subject. 

The pious and devoted Mr. Baxter somewhere remarks — "The 
word of God is divine ; but our mode of dispensing it is human : and 
there is scarcely any thing we have the handling of, but we leave on 
it the prints of our fingers." The justness of this remark we shall 
probably all acknowledge. And although the contemplation of the 
fact which it expresses, ought by no means either to discourage the 
Christian, or lead him to depreciate the real importance of human 
instrumentality in extending and building up the church ; it ought to 
lead us all to " cease from man" as an ultimate guide in divine things ; 
to " search the scriptures daily ;" to walk with a scrupulous care in 
their light ; and to pray fervently and unceasingly that both those 
who administer and those who receive the ordinances of God, may 
constantly go " to the law and to the testimony" for guidance in every 
thing. 

As the remark in question applies to every department of sacred 
things, in which men act ; so it maji be considered, perhaps, as 
applying particularly to Revivals of Religion. In those precious 
seasons, so dear to every pious heart, and so much to be desired by 
every one who loves the prosperity of Zion ; when the graces of 



APPENDIX. 249 

Christians are revived ; when many vi^ho have been slumbering in sin 
are awakened for the first timfe to a sight of their guilt and danger ; 
when the awful realities of eternity begin to be revealed to the minds 
of multitudes who never saw them as realities before ; when human 
sympathies and passions as well as gracious feelings, are called into 
exercise, and sometimes into very powerful and morbid exercise ; and 
when those who are yet "babes in Christ," and who, of course, have 
no experience, are ready to listen to every suggestion which may 
indicate some new method of " winning souls," and of extending the 
Redeemer's kingdom ; can it be wondered, that, in such a season of 
deep interest, and powerful excitement, feehng should often predomi- 
nate over judgment ; and enthusiasm, fanaticism, and various forms 
of spurious emotion, mingle with genuine exercises ; and, in the view 
of superficial observers, throw a suspicious appearance over the whole 
work? In many instances, there can be no doubt, that genuine 
effusions of the Holy Spirit, by means of which large additions have 
been made to the church of Christ, have, in their progress been tar- 
nished by human management, and unhallowed mixtures ; and, in 
not a few cases, arrested by transactions and appearances, which 
pained the hearts of intelligent Christians ; disgusted and aUenated 
serious inquirers ; grieved away the Spirit of God ; left the state of 
the population thus graciously visited, perhaps less favorable than it 
was found ; and greatly strengthened the hands of the enemies of the 
revival cause. 

This is so far from being a rare occurrence, that it is presumed an 
extensive and strongly marked revival of religion has seldom occur- 
red, in any age or country, and even under the ministry of the most 
prudent and pious pastor, in the course of which some things did not 
take place adapted to grieve the enlightened friends of the cause of 
Christ. Public services, perhaps have been, with the best intention, 
Bo inordinately multipUed as, in a measure, to defeat their own abject. 
Means have been resorted to, in the fulness of ardent feeling, which 
scriptural wisdom and experience could not justify. Irregularities and 
excesses have insensibly crept in, which, though meant for the best, 
and promising, at the time, to be useful, proved far otherwise in their 
influence. Expression has been given, in public and private to feel- 
ings, which, though sincere and unaffected in those in whom they 
were first witnessed, were by no means of a similar character in all 
subsequent imitators. A few, perhaps, who were deeply impressed 
with the importance of religion, and with the danger of the impeni- 
tcntly wicked, began, without permission, to give vent to their honest 

24* 



250 APPENDIX. 

zeal in warm public addresses. Those whose zeal and knowledge 
were less, and whose vanity was greater, soon imitated their example ; 
until lay-preaching became prevalent, and extravagance and folly 
were the most prominent features in the scene. Meetings for prayer 
were protracted to an unseasonable hour. Judicious and sober-mind- 
ed Christians were grieved to see plans adopted, and practices indulg- 
ed, which, though intended for good, were by no means adapted to 
promote it. Many who saw and lamented these evils were backward 
to oppose them, lest they should be thought unfriendly to what was 
really excellent and commendable in the passing scene. Thus revi- 
vals have lost some of their lustre with all j have been altogether dis- 
credited in the eyes of many ; and have, perhaps, been succeeded by 
long seasons of prevaihng carelessness, and even of hardened opposi- 
tion to the special work of the Holy Spirit. 

But not only are the seeds of human infirmity and corruption to which 
I have referred, quite sufficient to produce, and to explain the evils 
which have been mentioned : — not only are the honest mistakes, and 
the remaining imperfections of the best men apt to betray them, in 
seasons of excitement, into language and plans which will not stand 
the test of enlightened reflection ; but there can be no doubt that the 
great adversary of souls makes it his constant study, by working on 
the minds of hypocrites and fanatics, and by leading good men, as 
far as possible, into his snares, to counteract and to discredit revivals 
of rehgion. " If we look back" — says the eminently wise and expe- 
rienced President Edwards — " If we look back into the history of the 
Church of God in past ages, we may observe that it has been a com- 
mon device of the devil, to overset a revival of religion, when he finds 
he can keep men quiet and secure no longer, then to drive them into ex- 
cesses and extravagances. He holds them back as long as he can ; 
but when he can do it no longer, then he will push them on, and, if 
possible, run them upon their heads. And it has been by this means 
chiefly, that he has been successful, in several instances, to overthrow 
most hopeful and promising beginnings : yea, the principal means by 
which the devil was successful, by degrees, to overset that grand reli- 
gious revival of the world, that was in the primitive ages of Christian- 
ity , and, in a manner to overthrow the Christian Church throuo-h the 
earth, and ot make way for, and bring on the grand anti-christian 
apostacy, that master-piece of all the devil's work, was to improve the 
indiscreet zeal of Christians ; to drive them into those three extremes 
of enthusiasm, superstition, and severity towards opposers, which should 
be enough for an everlasting warninof to the Christian Church. And 



APPENDIX. 251 

though the devil will do his diligence to stir up the open enemies of 
rehgion ; yet he knows what is for his interest so well, that in a time 
of revival of religion, his main strength shall be tried with the friends 
of it, and he will chiefly exert himself in his attempts upon them to 
mislead them. One truly zealous person, in the time of such an event, 
that seems to have a great hand in the affair, and draws the eyes of 
many upon him, may do more (through Satan's being too subtle for 
him) to hinder the work, than an hundred great, and strong, and open 
opposers."* 

One would think, at first view, that a single series of mischievous 
disorders, strongly marked ; exhibited in a day of great public interest ; 
and distinctly recorded, would be sufficient to instruct and warn the 
Church in all succeeding times. But, unhappily, this is by no means 
found to be the case. Human nature being the same in all ages, the 
tendencies, infirmities and temptations of men are the same. One 
generation forgets the experience of that which preceded it. Few 
read the record of that experience, and fewer still are qualified to pro- 
fit by it. The consequence is, that every few years, the same occur- 
rences take place. Good men are ensnared and led astray in the 
same manner. Hypocrites manifest the same arts and unhallowed 
ebullitions. Similar mistakes are made, and similar irregularities are 
indulged, without recollecting, or, perhaps, knowing, that they were 
ever witnessed before, and of course, without being admonished by 
the painful instructions of former times. Thus it is that children pro- 
fit so little by the experience of their fathers. It were well, indeed, if 
the fathers themselves always profited as they ought by their own. 

The truth of these remarks has been exemplified, in a greater or less 
degree, in almost every age of the church, from the day of Pentecost, 
until the present hour. Even under the eyes of the inspired Apostles 
themselves, some of the evils of which we have spoken occurred, and 
were formally reproved as disorderly and mischievous. For exam- 
ple, no one can read the fourteenth chapter of the first Epistle to the 
Corinthians, without perceiving that the extraordinary gifts of the 
Holy Spirit were greatly abused by some of the members of that 
Church, and the exercise of these gifts connected with much disorder. 
It is perfectly evident that there was a considerable excitement among 
the people : and it is quite as evident that this experiment was not con- 
ducted with decorum and wisdom. The following paraphrase of Dr. 
DoddridgCy on the twenty-sixth verse of that chapter, is decisive as to 

■* Some Thoughts concerning the present Revival of Religion, &c. Part IV. p. ICO. 



252 , APPENPIX. 

his view of the subject. "I might also urge, upon this head, the 
great disorder which is introduced into your assemblies by this osten- 
tatious manner of proceeding 5 for, indeed, if you think seriously, lohat 
a shocking thing it is^ my brethren^ that tchen you come together for the 
purposes of social worship, in which all hearts should unite, each of you 
is desirous himself to officiate publicly, in such a manner as best suits 
his present inclination, without any regard to decency and order? 
Every one of you hath a psalm to read, hath a doctrine to inculcate, hath 
a tongue in which to preach or pray, hath a revelation of some mystery 
to produce, hath an interpretation, which perhaps he immediately be- 
gins, while the person from whom he is to interpret, hath but begun 
to speak ; and thus five or six, if not more, may be speaking at the 
same time ; in consequence of which no one can be distinctly heard, 
and the assembly degenerates into a kind of tumultuous riot. I be- 
seech you, my friends, to rectify this, and to proceed upon the general 
canon, which I would recommend to you upon all such occasions, — 
let all things he done, not for ostentation, but for edification, in such a^ 
manner as you do in your consciences believe will be most like to do 
good to the souls of men, and to build up the Church of Christ." To 
this paraphrase, the pious author adds, in a note — " It seems probable 
that some of these Christians were so full of themselves, and so desi- 
rous of exercising their respective gifts, that, without waiting for the 
permission and direction of him who presided in the assembly, several 
began speaking, or singing in the same minute, and some began 
while others were speaking. The manner in which discourses were 
carried on in the schools of the philosophers, where several little knots 
of disputants seem to have been engaged at the same time, and what 
happened in Jewish synagogues, after worship was completed, might 
possibly have given some occasion to an irregularity which to us seems 
so shocking." So much for the case of the Corinthian Church. The 
dihgent reader of the New Testament will see in the accounts given 
of other churches, indications of similar disorders, evidently spoken of 
as offensive to infinite wisdom. 

Concerning the partial or more extensive revivals of religion which 
took place, in the different countries, from the apostoHc age to the 
Reformation, we know so little in detail, that we cannot undertake to 
speak particularly of the disorders with which they were attended. 
But that there were such disorders, in a number of instances, cannot 
be doubted by those who read ecclesiastical history with the smallest 
share of either attention or discernment. I have no doubt, that many 
©f those serious people, who are represented by Mosheim and others, 



APPENDIX. 253 

as having fallen into irregularities j and who are set down by these 
historians as " heretics" or " schismatics j" were really among the 
"Witnesses of the Truth;" who connected with their testimony, 
some wildness in opinion, or disorder in practice, which tarnished their 
profession, and virtually threw their influence into the scale of the 
enemy. The fact is, we seldom read of the minds of men being 
roused and excited, even by a good Spirit, without some testimony 
that pride, vanity, enthusiasm and fanaticism, in various degrees and 
forms, mingled with the good work, and produced effects which 
grieved the hearts of intelligent and solid Christians. It ^seems to 
have been the lot of " the sons of God," in all ages, that whenever 
they assembled in greater numbers, and with greater zeal than usual, 
to ," present themselves before the Lord," " Satan came also among 
them." 

The glorious revival of religion which we are w^ont to designate by 
the emphatic title of the reformation, can never be too highly esti- 
mated, or too gratefully acknowledged by those who love the purity 
and prosperity of the Redeemer's kingdom. That wonderful impulse 
from the Spirit of God, which electrified western Christendom, and 
which, at once, convulsed and purified so large a portion of the 
church ; was made productive of blessings in which we yet rejoice, 
and which will be matter of fervent thankfulness to the end of time- 
But even the lustre of thai scene was tarnished by various disorders, 
which deeply grieved intelligent and judicious Christians, and, in 
some places, for a time, greatly hindered the progress of the good 
cause. When I see Carolostadt, the friend, and, for a time, the affec- 
tionate coadjutor of Ltti/ier; a man of reasonable talents and learn- 
ing'; who had exposed the tyranny and superstition of the Pope with 
great effect ; and who had been pronounced to have deserved well of 
the Protestant cause : — when I see such a man acting the unwise and 
turbulent part which history reports of him — I could almost sit down 
and weep over poor, frail human nature. When I see him entering 
the Churches of the Romanists, breaking in 'pieces their images, 
throwing down their altars, and trampling their crucifixes under his 
feet : — when I find him denouncing human learning, as useless, if not 
injurious to the student of the holy Scriptures ; going into the shops of 
the lowest mechanics, and consulting them about the meaning of dif- 
ficult passages of Scripture ; ostentatiously renouncing the title of 
"doctor," and all names of ecclesiastical distinction ; insisting that min- 
isters ought not to study, but to support themselves by the labor of their 
own hands ; filling the minds of young men with his eccentric and mis- 



254 APPENDIX. 

chievous opinions ; persuading the students of the University of WiU 
temberg, to abandon their studies, and even the boys, in the lovi^er 
schools, to throw aside their books, and enter immediately on the 
business of religious teaching ; — and v^^hen I find him, in addition to 
these irregularities, declaring that he had not the least regard for the 
authority of any human being, but must pursue his own course ; and 
that no man could be a real Christian who disapproved of that course : 
I say, when I find him acting thus, amidst the entreaties and the tears 
of far wiser and more pious men than himself; — I cannot help ex- 
claiming — " Lord, what is man !" These proceedings, it is unneces- 
sary to say, were matter of great grief to Luther, and all his judicious 
friends, and evidently injured the cause of the Reformation. But, inf 
spite of all the remonstrances and entreaties which could be presented 
to Carolostadt, he persevered in his unhappy course for several years. 
And although he afterwards came, in a great measure, to his senses, 
acknowledging his fault, and professed to mourn over it; still the 
cause of truth had been dishonored, and incalculable mischief done* 
which it was impossible to recall. 

The revival of rehgion which took place in the former part of the 
eighteenth century, in this country, is generally considered, I believe* 
and with great justice, as the most extensive and powerful that Amer- 
ican Christians ever witnessed. The labors of the. Apostolic Whit' 
fieldj and his coadjutors, the Tennents, &c., and also of the venerable 
Stoddard^ President Edwards, and others, in JsTeiv- England, were con- 
nected with triumphs of gospel truth, which the friends of vital piety 
love to remember, and which they can never call to mind without 
gratitude and praise to Him who has " the residue of the Spirit." 
Many thousands of souls, there is reason to believe, were brought into 
the kingdom of Christ, during that revival, and a new jjonpulse find 
aspect given to the Church in the American colonies./ 

Yet, here again, some of the managers in this heart-elevating scene, 
— to recur to the expressive language of Baxter, — " left upon it the 
prints of their fingers," and thus created unsightly spots in a " blaze 
of glory." He who will take the trouble to consult the fourth part of 
the venerable Edioard'>s treatise on that revival, as well as some other 
contemporaneous pubhcations, will find evidence of this fact as pain- 
ful as it is unquestionable. He will find, that, amidst the most gra- 
tifying evidence that good seed, and good fruits predominated, the 
enemy was permitted to " sow tares," which sprung up with the wheat, 
and, in some cases, almost " choked it." The disorders of lay-preach- 
ing well nigh brought the ministry, in many places, into contempt. ' 



APPENDIX. 255 

The outcries, the praying and exhorting by females in pubhc, grieved 
the hearts of judicious Christians. The language of harsh censure^ and 
of uncharitable denunciation^ as " unconverted" persons, — as " blind 
leaders of the blind," — as " devout leaders to hell" — was directed to- 
wards some of the best ministers of Christ in the community, because 
they disapproved of these irregularities. Public confessions of secret 
sins were warmly urged, and actually made, and crimes altogether 
unsuspected brought to light, to the disgrace of Christian character, 
and the destruction of domestic peace. Thus scenes which were no doubt 
intended to make a deep and salutary impression, were made the sub- 
jects of unhallowed speculation, and the themes of a thousand tongues. 
All these things were urged with the confidence of oracular wisdom ; 
and whoever ventured to lisp any thing like doubt or opposition, was 
publicly stignjatized as an enemy to revivals, and an opposer of vital 
piety. 

Among those who took the lead in this fanatical and disorderly 
conduct, one individual obtained such an unhappy eminence, that his 
case ought to be kept before the public mind as a salutary warning. 
I need not tell you, that I refer to the Rev. Mr. James Davenport, ^reat- 
grandson of the venerable and excellent John Davenport, the first mi- 
nister o^ Meio- Haven, and at that time pastor of a church at Soiithhold, 
on Long-Island. Mr. Davenport was then a young man, and had been 
for some time esteemed a pious and faithful minister. Hearing of the 
signal effusions of the Holy Spirit with which God had been pleased 
to favor many parts o^ J^eiv- England, he about the year 1741, made a 
visit to Connecticut, and shortly afterwards to Massachusetts ; and every 
where preached abundantly, and entered with warmth into the spirit 
of the prevailing revivals. Soon, however, becoming animated by a 
furious zeal, and imagining that he was called to take a special lead in 
the work, he began to set at nought all the rules of Christian prudence 
and order, and to give the most unrestrained liberty to his fanatical 
feelings. He raised his voice to the highest pitch in public services, 
and accompanied his unnatural vehemence, and cantatory bawling, 
with the most violent agitations of body. He encouraged his hearers 
to give the most unrestrained vent both to their distress and joy, by 
violent outcries, in the midst of pubhc assemblies. He pronounced 
those who were thus violently agitated, and who made these public 
outcries to be undoubtedly converted persons. He openly encou- 
raged his new converts to speak in public, and brought forward many 
ignorant and unqualified persons, young and old, to address large 
assemblies, in his own vehement and magisterial manner. He led 



256 APPENDIX. 

his followers in procession through the streets, singing psalms and 
hymns. He claimed a kind of prescriptive right to sit in judgment 
on the character of Ministers of the Gospel. He went from place to 
place, undertaking to examine ministers, as to their spiritual state, and 
to decide with confidence whether they were converted or not ; and 
when his judgment was unfavorable, he would often in his public 
prayers, denounce them as graceless persons, and call upon the peo- 
ple to pray for their conversion. Those who refused to be examined 
by him, he, of course, placed on the reprobated list. He made his 
public prayers the medium of harsh, and often indecent attack on those 
ministers and others whom he felt disposed, on any account, to censure. 
He taught his followers to govern themselves by impulses and impres- 
sions, rather than by the word of God ; and represented all public ser- 
vices in which there was not some visible agitation, or some audible 
outcry, as of no value. He warned the people against hearing uncon- 
verted Ministers, representing it as a dreadful sin to do so; and on 
more than one occasion pubhcly refused to receive the sacramental 
symbols in particular churches, when he had an opportunity of doing 
it, because he doubted the piety of the pastors. 

Mr. Davenport'' s elder and more judicious brethren, who trembled 
for the interests of rcHgion, and who were especially anxious that no 
dishonor might be cast on the revivals which were going on around 
them, remonstrated against these proceedings ; warned him of their 
consequences ; and begged him to examine whether he was not under, 
the influence of a wrong spirit. But he was deaf to all their remon- 
strances and entreaties ; encouraged bodies of people, in a number 
of places, to withdraw from their pastors, and establish separate 
societies, in which all his peculiarities and extravagances might be 
freely indulged ; scattered division and strife in every direction ; in-., 
creased the number of the enemies of the revival ; discouraged and 
disgusted not a few of its friends ; and, in a word, created disorders, 
ahenation, bitterness, and division, the consequences of which remain 
in many parts of that country, to the present day. 

In this deplorable state of things, some of the most eminently wise 
and pious ministers in the land raised a warning voice against extra- 
vagancies which seemed likely to bear down all before them. They 
were heard by some, and their preaching and writings did much 
good. But they were denounced by many as enemies of the revival; 
and, in spite of every thing they could say or do, the infatuation of 
Davenport and his followers could not be arrested. Like other dis^ 
eases, it ran its course, until the virulent matter which gave it aliment 



APPENDIX. ^57 

Was in a measure expended. The Holy Spirit, in the mean time, 
was grieved, and took his departure ; and a spirit of discord, conten- 
tion, and animosity, took the place of his hallowed influence. 

It is true, Mr. Davenport, in 1744, became sensible of his folly and 
sin, and published an humble confession and recantation, in which he 
acknowledged that he had been actuated by a wrong spirit ; lamented 
many parts of his conduct ; and was in some measure restored to the 
fellowship of his injured brethren. But to repair the mischief which 
he had done was beyond his power. The friends of Zion had been 
clad in mourning. Her enemies had triumphed. Truth lay bleeding 
in the streets. Congregations had been torn in pieces and scattered. 
New societies had been established upon fanatical principles, and 
could not be reclaimed. Immortal souls had been disgusted with 
what claimed to be rehgion, driven from the house of God, and pro- 
bably lost for ever. The enemies of real revivals of religion, who 
were many and powerful, had become confirmed and hardened in 
their hostility. And many personal and ecclesiastical desolations 
had been produced, over which their author might mourn and weep, 
but which he could not remedy.* 

Scenes in some measure similar have been repeatedly exhibited 
since that time. Of these, I have neither time nor inclination to speak 
of more than one. The case to which I refer is that of the remarkable 
revivals which took place in the years 1800, 1801, and 1802, in the 
western country, and more particularly within the bounds of the Sy- 
nod of Kentucky, My impression is, that the most enlightened and 
sincere friends of vital piety, who had the best opportunity of being" 
intimately acquainted with the revivals referred to, believe them to 
have been a real work of the Holy Spirit, or at least to have been 
productive of a number of genuine conversions. But that this work 
of grace was attended, and finally overshadowed, disgraced, and ter- 
minated by fanaticism and disorders of the most distressing character, 
will not, probably, now be questioned by any competent judges. 
This excitement began in Logan county, in Kentucky, but soon spread 
over all the state, and into the neighboring states. Besides increased 
attention to the usual seasons, and the ordinary means of religious 
worship, there were, during the summers of the years just mentioned, 
large camp meetings held, and a number of days and nights in suc- 
cession spent in almost unceasing religious exercises. At these 



* See Prince's Christian History, Nos, 8% 83, 103, &c. TrumbuH'e History 
of Connecticut, Book ii. Chapter 8. 

25 



258 APPENDIX. 

meetings, hundreds, and, in some cases, thousands of people might 
have been seen and heard, at the same time, engaged in singing and 
prayer, in exhortation and preaching, in leaping, shouting, disputing, 
and conversing, vt^ith a confusion scarcely describable. This vi^onder- 
ful excitement may be considered as standing related, both as cause 
and effect, to several other deplorable irregularities.* A love of ex- 
citement and of agitation seemed to take possession of the people. 
They began to suppose that when these were absent, nothing was 
done. A number of hot-headed young men, intoxicated with the 
prevailing element of excitement, and feeling confident of their own 
powers and call to the work, though entirely destitute of any suitable 
education, assumed^ the office of public exhorters and instructors. 
These were soon afterwards licensed to preach ; a majority of the 
presbytery hoping that, although not regularly qualified, they might 
be useful. When once this door was opened, it was found difficult 
to close it. Candidate after candidate, of this character, and on this 
plan, was licensed, and subsequently ordained, until this description 
of ministers threatened to become a majority of the whole body. As 
might have been expected, a new source of trouble now appeared. 
A number of these raw and ignorant young men, and a few of the 
older ministers, began to manifest great laxness as to their theological 
opinions. And a neiv preshylery having been set off, consisting chiefly 
of those who were friendly to the new opinions and measures, became 
a sortof mini for issuing, in great abundance, similar coin. Candidates 
were freely licensed and ordained who declined adopting the Confes- 
sion of Faith of the Presbyterian Church, in the usual form. They 
were received on their declaring, that they adopted that Confession 
" only so far as they considered it as agreeing loith the word of God.^^ 
On this plan, it is manifest, subscription vi^as a piece of solemn mock* 
ery. Persons of all conceivable sentiments might freely enter at 
such a door. The consequence was that Armenians and Pelagians 
actually entered the Presbyterian Church, and went on rapidly to 
multiply, until the decisive measures of the Synod of Kentuekyj and 
of the General Assembly arrested the progress of the evil. By means 
of the measures referred to, these disorderly intruders, with their per- 
tinacious adherents, were finally separated from the Synod of Ken^ 
tucky, A majority of them formed the body known by the name of 
the " Cumberland Presbyterians," now consisting of a number of 



* See President Bishop's Outline of the History of the Church in Kentucky, 
p. 117. 



APPENDIX, 269 

Presbyteries, professing to adopt the Presbyterian form of govern- 
ment, but avowedly embracing semi-pelagian principles in theology. 
Another, but smaller portion, formed a new body, denominated 
"Chrystians," and sometimes "New Lights," or " Stoneites," (from 
the name of their principal leader,) and became a kind of enthusiastic, 
noisy Socinians. While the remainder, under the same lawless im- 
pulse, took a third course, and fell into all the fanatical absurdities of 
"Shakerism." 

In this case, indeed, as in some of those before recited, several of 
the ministerial brethren, more advanced in life, who had lent their 
names and their influence to these deplorable disorders, became, after 
a while, sensible of their mistake; acknowledged their fault; and 
were restored to the bosom of the Presbyterian Church. But, as in 
former cases, not until mischiefs then beyond their control had been 
consummated. The mournful results of their course had been pre- 
dicted, and they were entreated to guard against the division and 
corruption to which it could not" fail of leading. But they would not 
be prevailed upon to pause, until the church had been rent in pieces ; 
until heresies of the grossest kind had been engendered and embodied ; 
and until they had effectually scattered, in that country, the seeds of 
deep and extended ecclesiastical desolation. No intelligent Christian, 
it is believed, who has any adequate acquaintance with the course of 
the events in question, has any doubt, that these revivals, on account 
of their sad accompaniments, left the churches in the luestin afar worse 
state than they had been before. Anteiior to the occurrence of these 
scenes, their state had borne chiefly a negative character. There was 
a lamentable absence of rehgious knowledge, privileges, and feeling. 
But now there was generated a bitter hostility to revivals of religion j 
a systematic, bold, and wide-spread infidehty ; and such a division 
and alienation of the sound materials for ecclesiastical organizations 
which were left, as to throw them back for many years, as to any 
desirable religious order. As to the disorders which have marked 
some revivals of still more recent date, I dare not trust myself either 
to recount or discuss them. But enough, I trust, has been said to 
answer my purpose. I have stated the facts of other times just as 
they are recorded by the pen of impartial history, without allowing 
myself, to the best of my knowledge and belief, to disguise, or to 
caricature a single feature in any portrait. Every discerning reader 
will be able to apply the past to the present, and to see, in the errors 
and sufferings of our fathers, some of those mistakes which we ought 



IBO . APPENDIX, 

carefully to avoid. God grant that we may none of us reject the 
lesson, until it shall be too late to profit by it ! 

It was' remarked, on a preceding page, that the disorders which 
occurred in the Synod of Kentucky were early connected with camp 
meetings. It is my impression that camp meetings began in the 
Presbyterian Church ; that they were first adopted from a kind of 
necessity, in a country where houses for public worship were few, and 
of small size, and, of course, altogether insufficient for receiving the 
great crowds which collected on particular occasions, and who were 
in a state of mind which prompted them to remain a number of days 
at the place of meeting. In such circumstances, encamping in the 
open air seemed to be unavoidable. But what was begun from ne- 
cessity j was afterwards, in many cases, continued from choice. Camp 
meetings were found to furnish admirable means for the propagation 
of strong excitement. The evils, however, to which they naturally 
led, soon diminished their popularity with calm and impartial observers. 
Our Methodist brethren, it is believed, took this plan from us ; and 
retained it for many years, as one of their favorite methods of con- 
ducting worship for the purpose of effect. But, although not yet 
wholly discarded from that body, it is no longer so great a favorite, 
or so extensively employed, as formerly. Hence a pious and judicious 
minister of that denomination lately said to a friend of mine — " 1 am 
a little surprised at you Presbyterians. We tried the machine of 
camp meetings for a number of years, and have but recently dis- 
mounted from it, scarcely escaping with whole bones ; when, lo, 
you are disposed to mount again, and once more to venture on the 
perilous experiment !" 

I confess I deeply regret that the use of camp meetings should be 
resumed in our body. Where they are necessary, that is, where an 
assembled multitude cannot be accommodated in any other way, as 
was evidently the case with some of the audiences of John the Baptist, 
and afterwards, in some cases, with those of our Lord, and as doubt- 
less, has happened in a number of instances since, let them be freely 
employed. I am far from supposing that they are necessarily, and 
always injurious. Far less that all the converts which have been 
numbered on such occasions, were of a spurious character. By no 
means. Wherever the word of God is faithfully and powerfully pre- 
sented, it never fails, I believe, of doing some good. It has never 
been my lot to see a Presbyterian camp meeting. But I have had an 
opportunity of personally witnessing the effects of such a scene, as 
they appeared among our Methodist brethren. And the general im» 



APPENDIX, 261 

pression which they have made upon me, was, I acknowledge, by no 
means favorable. To say nothing of the irregularities and abuses 
which it is difficulty if not impossible, in ordinary cases, wholly to 
avoid, on the skirts, and sometimes in the interior, of such camps ; 
they have always appeared to me adapted to make religion more an 
affair of display, of impulse, of noise, and of animal sympathy, than 
of the understanding, the conscience, and the heart. In short, they 
have always struck me as adapted, in their ordinary form, to produce 
effects on our intellectual and moral nature analogous to those of 
strong drink on the animal economy ; that is, to excite, to warm, and 
to appear to strengthen for a time ; but only to pave the way for a 
morbid expenditure of " sensorial power," as we say concerning the 
animal economy, and for consequent debility and disease* 

Some of my brethren, I am aware, honestly, and I have no doubt, 
piously, entertain a different opinion. I judge them not. " To their 
own Master they stand or fall." I have merely ventured to pour out 
on paper the fulness of a heart intensely solicitous, if I do not deceive 
myself, for the extension and the honor of true rehgion ; and desirnig, 
as sincerely as any friend of camp meetings in the land, the multipli- 
cation, and the universal triumph of genuine revivals. I claim no 
particular skill, or extent of information on this subject ; and am 
cordially willing to sit and learn at the feet of any brother who has 
lessons of sound and adequate experience, and, above all, of inspired 
wisdom, to offer on this subject. But until such can be produced to 
my satisfaction, I must be allowed, as a commissioned and sworn 
"watchman OH the walls of Zion," (however incompetent,) to give 
warning, "according to the best of my knowledge and understand- 
ing." 

While I speak thus candidly on the subject of camp-meetings, allow 
me to volunteer a word in relation to what are commonly styled anx' 
ious seats. They are connected, and not very remotely, w^ith the 
subject I have undertaken to discuss. Far be it from me to under- 
take to pronounce on those brethren who have thought it their duty 
to countenance them, a sentence of condemnation ; or to question that 
good has sometimes been done where they have been used. But this, 
I must insist, is not, in all cases, a safe criterion of duty. Men may 
be savingly benefited by the instrumentality of means which all 
would unite in condemning. The decisive question is, can this method 
of proceeding be considered as the best mode, nay as a really ehgible 
mode, of drawing to a point, and ascertaining the exercises of serious 
inquirers ? Is it the best way of deciding on the digested feelings, 

25* 



262 APPENDIX. 

the deliberate purpose of persons, whose attention has been aroused, 
it may be for the first time, and perhaps only a few minutes before, to 
the great subject of. religion? If, indeed, I were called upon toad- 
dress one or itiore individuals on a journey, as Philip was, in the case 
of the Ethiopian Eunuch ; — individuals whom I never expected to see 
again, after the passing hour ; I might, without impropriety, call them 
to declare their decision within that hour, and baptize them, as Philip did. 
Or, if I had occasion to speak to a mixed multitude, the greater part 
of whom could only remain a few days in the place where the Gospel 
was preached to them, — as was the situation of many in the city of 
Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost; — it would strike me as proper to 
call them, not merely to an immediate decision — between the claims of 
God and the world, which indeed ought always to be done by 

EVERY MINISTER ; but also tO aU IMMEDIATE MANIFESTATION OF 

THAT DECISION, that they might be conversed and prayed with accord- 
ingly, in the few hours of opportunity which they were permitted to 
enjoy. But it would by no means occur to me as the most judicious 
way, in ordinary cases, of drawing the line between the careless, and 
the truly anxious inquirer, to request all who were disposed to think 
seriously, to rise and present themselves before a public assembly, in 
the character of persons who had resolved, or were desirous, to devote 
themselves to the service of Christ, — and this, perhaps, at the close of 
the very sermon by means of which it was hoped they had, for the 
first time, begun to feel and inquire about salvation ; and, of course, 
in a few minutes after they thus began to feel. If I were to make 
such a request, I should expect to find the persons rising'and present- 
ing themselves in compliance with it, to be, for the most part, the 
forward, the sanguine, the rash, the self-confident, and the self-right- 
eous ; and that many, who felt more deeply, and yet hesitated about 
announcing themselves so suddenly as anxious inquirers, and, of 
course, kept their seats, would prove to be the modest, the humble, 
the broken-hearted, who had a deep impression of the deceitfulness 
of the heart, and who considered the importance of pondering well 
the solemnity of every step on a subject of such unutterable moment. 
I am aware that the advocates of the system of " anxious seats," 
urge, with some plausibility, that, in consideration of the natural 
tendency of the impenitent to stifle convictions, and to tamper with 
the spirit of procrastination, it is desirable that they should be pre- 
vailed upon, as soon as possible, to " commit themselves" on this 
great subject. That a decisive step in relation to this subject is de- 
sir aUe, and that it ought to be taken ivithout delay, is certain. But, at 



APPENDIX, 263 

liie same time, that it ought to be taken without rashness, with know- 
ledge, with due consideration, and with sacred care not to mistake a 
transient emotion, for a deep impression, or a settled purpose, is 
equally certain. Suppose, after a solemn and pointed sermon, an in- 
vitation to be given to all present who felt the importance of an im- 
mediate attention to " the things which belong to their peace," to 
come forward and take the seats provided for them near the pulpit. 
Suppose two hundred individuals to avail themselves of this invitation, 
and to present themselves before the church as objects of attention 
and prayer. And suppose, at the end of three months, ^/% of these 
to unite themselves with the professing people of God, on the ground 
of " a good hope through grace j^^— fifty more to take the same step, 
not because they were satisfied of their Christian character j but be- 
cause they had " committed themselves," and did not wish to appear 
fickle, or apostates : — and the remaining hundred to return, with 
greater obduracy than before, to their former careless and sinful 
course. I say, suppose such steps, and a result as I have stated to 
occur ; — would it be deemed, by judicious Christians, a result, on the 
whole, more favorable for the best interests of the Redeemer's king- 
dom, than, if, in pursuance of what are called the " old measures," 
in such cases, none but the fifty genuine converts had ever been 
brought forward to public view at all, and not even these until they 
had enjoyed an opportunity to bring their exercises to the test of time ; 
to gain and digest the elements of Christian knowledge, and to " count 
the cost" of their undertaking ? — The Church indeed, in the latter 
case, might not grow in numbers quite so rapidly ; and her move- 
ments might not be quite so audible and imposing: — but, methinks, 
her growth would be more likely to prove healthful. She would be 
less burdened with spurious members. She would be more likely to 
escape the multiplied evils naturally arising from the fact of a large 
portion of her members being hurried forward in such a school of agi- 
tation, immature training, and noisy excitement; and much less in 
danger of placing both the fifty who insincerely took upon them- 
selves the vows of Christ, and the hundred who " drew back," in a state 
far more perilous than ever, with regard to their final salvation. 

Let it not be said, that inviting to " anxious seats" is the only ef- 
fectual method of ascertaining who are under serious impressions, and 
who are not. Why is it not quite as eflfectual to give a public invita- 
tion to all who are in any degree seriously impressed, or anxious 
to remain after the congregation is dismissed, or to meet their pastor 
the next evening, in some convenient apartment, for the purpose of 



2^4 APPENDIX, 

disclosing their feelings, and of being made the subjects of instruction 
and prayer. Nay, why is not the latter method very much preferable 
to the former? It surely gives quite as good an opportunity to ascer- 
tain numbers, and to distinguish persons and cases. It affords a far 
better opportunity to give distinct and appropriate instruction to par- 
ticular individuals. It prevents the mischief of dragging into public 
view, and even into the highest degree of pubhcity, those whose exer- 
cises are immature, and perhaps transient. And it avoids the danger, 
which to many, and especially to young people, may be very formida- 
ble ;— I mean the danger of being inflated by becoming- objects of 
public attention, and by being forthwith addressed and announced, 
as is too often the case, as undoubted " converts." Surely the inci- 
pient exercises of the awakened and convinced, ought to be character- 
ized by much calm self-examination, and much serious, retired, closet 
work. If there be any whose impressions are so slight and transient 
that they cannot be safely permitted to wait until the next evening ; 
it will hardly be maintained that such persons are prepared to " com- 
mit themselves" by publicly taking an anxious seat. And if there be 
any w^hose vanity would dispose them to prefer pressing forward to 
such a seat in the presence of a great assembly, to meeting their 
pastor and a few friends in a more private manner, the Church I ap- 
prehend, can promise herself little comfort from the multiplication of 
such members. 

I have just said, that, among those who came forward on such an 
extemporaneous invitation, I should expect to find the sanguine, the 
self-confident, the superficially informed and exercised, as a matter of 
course. On a late occasion, and in a house of worship, not very 
far distant from this place, when, after a solemn discourse, a request 
w^as made that all who wxre anxious, or resolved to attend to their 
spiritual interests, should immediately arise, and signify their deter- 
mination ; ihQ first person that arose was a young man, in whom the 
odour of strong drink was very offensive ; who was evidently more 
than half drunk at the time ; and who never, before or afterwards, 
manifested any serious concern on the subject. In another place, and 
on another occasion, when a similar request was made, the only person 
that arose was a woman of very dubious character, who is not sup- 
posed, I believe, by any one, to have been, either then, or since, under 
any thing that deserves to be called real anxiety of mind. The great 
Searcher of hearts is my witness, that I do not mention these facts for 
the purpose of casting any unfair odium on the practice to w*hich I re- 
fer j but merely for the purpose of exemplifying the principles which I 



APPENDIX, 265 

wish to inculcate, and of showing that the danger which I deprecate 
are not the mere phantoms of a disordered fancy. 

In fine, I suppose the truth concerning both "camp meetings," 
and " anxious seats" to be about this ; That however useful they may 
have really been in a few cases, of very peculiar character ; and 
however they may have appeared to some honest but ardent minds, 
to operate favorably in a still greater number of cases ; yet, as means 
of stated and promiscuous use, or, in fact, as means to be used at ally 
unless in very special circumstances, they are eminently adapted to 
generate fanaticism ; to give a taste for ostentatious display in the 
service of the sanctuary ; to favor the rapid multiplication of superfi- 
cial, ignorant, untrained professors of religion ; and to prepare the 
way for almost every species of disorder. 

I have been acquainted with more than one church in which the 
extemporaneous mode of introducing members, of which I am speak- 
ing, has been extensively practised. And I must say, the result has 
been in no degree adapted to recommend the practice. The great 
numbers thus added made a most animating figure in the religious 
periodicals of the day j but, after a year or two, a large portion of 
them were not to be found. " Their goodness, like the morning 
cloud and the early dew," had passed away. They had, in a great 
measure, withdrawn from the house of God, and from all attendance 
on sealing ordinances ; and needed as much as ever to be gathered 
from the "highways and hedges," and to be made the subjects of a 
new conversion. The truth is, any plan, in the house of God, for 
separating the precious and the vile ; for drawing a line between the 
church and the world, which does not provide for an intelligent and 
deliberate, as well as serious entrance into the body of Christ; which 
does not make some good degree of knowledge as w^ell as feeling 
necessary in the candidate for admission ; however it may gratify 
one whose " ruling passion" is to multiply professed converts to the 
greatest possible extent ; and however plausibly it may appear in the 
public journals of the day ; — will disclose miserable results in the 
end, as to any genuine building up of the Redeemer's kingdom. 

But I will not run the risk of wearying your patience by farther 
enlarging on this subject. I shall, therefore, after two or three gene- 
ral remarks, which appear to me to be suggested by the foregoing 
facts, close this long letter. 

The yirsf remark is, that there is a striking similarity in the disor- 
ders which have attended and marred revivals of religion in all ages. 
As in doctrine^ what is thought by many a neio opinion, is frequently 



266 APPENDIX. 

found, upon inquiry, nothing more than the revival of an error, long 
ago exploded j — so in measures of practical disorder, what wears to 
many all the attraction of novelty^ is a repetition — perhaps the fiftieth 
time — of some old contrivance for producing a sudden and strong 
impression on the feelings of a popular assembly. In fact, as real 
religion is the same in all ages, so its counterfeits are the same ; hu- 
man nature is the same ; and the symptoms and morbid results of 
enthusiasm, superstition and fanaticism are substantially the same. 
We need not be surprised, then, to find ancient irregularities so 
remarkably resembling the modern. We have seen that wheneve 
masses of men became excited, and especially when this excitemer. 
seized the minds of those who had been bred in ignorance and 
thoughtlessness , — as they were brought into a new world ; so they 
were apt to think, as a matter of course, that some new and bold mea- 
sures must be adopted ; that exigencies which are as old as human 
nature, but which appear to them new, call for new modes of proceed- 
ing ; and that the counsels of age and experience, like the exploded 
theories of by-gone days, are no longer seasonable or adequate. 
Hence the inordinate love of novel contrivances for arresting the po- 
pular attention, and impressing the popular mind ; the spirit of rash 
and uncharitable denunciation ; the remarkable fact, that, in all ages, 
young, and, of course, inexperienced ministers, have commonly taken 
the lead, and discovered the most headstrong obstinacy in commenc- 
ing and pursuing measures of an innovating character j a tendency 
to undervalue the settled order of the church, and to usurp the func- 
tions of the sacred office ; yielding the mind to impulses and enthu- 
siastic impressions ; denouncing all who refused to concur in these 
things as graceless formalists ; encouraging /cma/es to take the lead 
in social prayer ; calling upon penitents to make public confession of 
their private sins, as indispensable to forgiveness, and spiritual pros- 
perity ; claiming to have a gift, unknown to others, of promoting 
genuine revivals, to be the only real friends of true, spiritual rehgion ; 
— These are some of the fruits of human corruption which attended 
and marred revivals of religion centuries ago ; and which have ap- 
peared every few years since, in similar connection, and with endless 
repetition. It is an undoubted fact, that most of those well meant 
irregularities, on which some truly pious people now look with ap- 
probation and interest, as means pre-eminently adapted for promoting 
religion, have been confidently proposed, tried, found in the end to 
work badly^ and exploded, over and over again ; — and yet there are 



APPENDIX. 267 

those who still dream that they can be made to accomplish what all 
experience has pronounced to be impossible. 

The second xemsLrk which I would make, as the result of the whole 
is, that, as we may confidently take for granted that enlightened and 
stable Christians will not be shaken, either in their faith or hope, by 
the occasional and even prominent exhibition of these disorders in 
connection with revivals of religion ; so it is important to put inquirers 
on their guard against " stumbling at this stumbhng stone." Some, 
when they see what claims to be religion, and even a genuine and 
precious revival of religion, tarnished by management, or extrava* 
gances which they cannot approve, are apt hastily to conclude, that 
vital piety, and revivals of religion are all a dream. I fear that this 
fatal delusion is often adopted ; and cannot but also fear that the dis- 
orders which often attend revivals frequently minister to it. But it is 
a delusion. The very existence of counterfeits, shows that there is 
true coin. In every department of affairs, temporal or spiritual, in 
which men are called to act, they discover their imperfections. The 
bible teaches us to expect this. And if we did not find it so, the bible 
representation of human nature would not be verified. When, there- 
fore, any are tempted to doubt the reality or the importance of what 
are called by intelligent Christians, revivals of religion, because they 
have been often tarnished by unhappy admixtures or accompani- 
ments ; they adopt a conclusion which does as little credit to their 
scriptural knowledge, and their historical reading, as it does to their 
Christian experience. The work of the Holy Spirit, in renovating 
and sanctifying the heart, is the glory and hope of the church. That 
there should be seasons in which this work is made to appear with 
pecuUar lustre and power, so entirely falls in with all the works and 
ways of God, that the only wonder is, that any one who reads the 
New Testament, or looks abroad on the face of Christian society, 
should cherish a remaining doubt. And although the Spirit is a 
divine Person, and all his influences infinitely pure and holy ; yet, 
when we recollect that its subjects are sinful men, who remain, after 
they become the subjects of his power, but imperfectly sanctified ; 
and that those who preside over the dispensation of the various means 
of grace, are also sinful, fallible men ; — though we may mourn and 
weep, we certainly cannot wonder, that marks — sad marks of our 
weakness and fallibility should appear in our most precious seasons, 
and in our hoUest services. 

The last remark with which I would trouble you, is, that we ought 
to guard against undertaking to condemn, as of course lacking piety, 



268 APPENDIX, 

those who favor some or all of the disorders to which reference has 
been made. We have seen that one of the characteristics which sel- 
dom fail to mark those brethren, is a disposition to anathematize as 
unfaithful or graceless, all who cannot adopt their views, and pursue 
their plans. It is important that we guard against imitating this un- 
worthy example. While we avoid, with sacred care, all participa- 
tion in their faults ; while we bear testimony faithfully and openly 
against whatever we deem unfriendly to the cause of genuine reli- 
gion ; let us remember that some zealous and active servants of Jesus 
Christ ; brethren whose piety we cannot doubt, and whose usefulness 
we can have no disposition to undervalue or abridge ; — have appear-* 
ed, for a time, as the patrons of these mistakes. Let us honor their 
piety, rejoice in their usefulness, forgive their mistakes, and pray that 
they may be brought to more correct views. 

That you and I, my dear friend, may have grace given us to love 
and promote, with our whole hearts, genuine revivals of religion, 
and to guard against every thing which tends to impede or mar them ; 
and that we may speedily enjoy the unspeakable pleasure of seeing 
the power of the gospel in its choicest influences pervade our land, 
and the world ; — is the unfeigned prayer of your affectionate brother 
in Christ. 

SAMUEL MILLER. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 

Princeton, March 8, 1832. 



L E T T E R V . 

From the REVEREND ALVAN HYDE, D. D. 
Pastor of a Congregational church in Lee, Massachnsetts. 

Lee, March 22d;, 1832. 
Dear Brother, 

In compliance with your particular request, I now commence a 
concise narrative of the work of God's Holy Spirit, in reviving reli- 
gion, at several periods, among the people of my pastoral charge. 
Conscious of the many defects which have been attached to my min- 
istry, I engage in this service with diffidence, and yet I humbly hope, 
with a sincere desire, that the great Head of the church may thereby 
be glorified. What I shall commnnicate, will be a simple and un* 
varnished statement of facts, which my own eyes have seen and my 
own ears have heard, taken from minutes which I made, at the time 
they occurred. These facts will develope the astonishing mercy of 
God to a guilty people, and to the unworthy instrument, who has 
stood for so many years as their spiritual teacher and guide. It will 
be seen, as I proceed in the narrative, what doctrines were preached, 
and what means and measures were adopted, both before these revivals 
commenced, and while they were in progress. 

The first season of " refreshing from the presence of the Lord," 
which this people enjoyed, commenced in June 1792, a few days 
after the event of my ordination. Th6re was, at this time, no religious 
excitement in this region of country, nor had I knowledge of there 
being a special work of God's grace in any part of the land. The 
church here was small and feeble, having only twenty-one male 
members belonging to it. It was, however, a little praying band, 
and they were often together, like the primitive Christians, continuing 
with one accord in prayer. Immediately on being stationed here, as 
a watchman, I instituted a weekly religious conference, to be holden 
on each Wednesday, and, in succession, at the various school houses 
in the town. These were well attended in every district, and fur- 
nished me with favorable opportunities to instruct the people, and to 

26 



270 APPENDIX. 

present the truths of the gospel to the old and young in the most 
plain and familiar manner. This weekly meeting has been sustained 
to the present time, without losing any of its interest ; and when I 
have been at home, has carried me around the town, as regularly as 
the weeks have returned. 

With a view to form a still more particular acquaintance with the 
people committed to my charge, I early began to make family visits 
in different sections of the town. These visits, of which I made a 
number in the course of a week, were improved wholly in conversing 
on the great subject of rehgion. and in obtaining, with as much cor- 
rectness as I could, a knowledge of their spiritual state, that my in- 
structions on the Sabbath, and at the weekly meetings, might be 
better adapted to their case. This people had been for nine years 
without a pastor, and were unhappily divided in their religious opin- 
ions. Some were Calvinists, and favored the church, but the largest 
proportion were Arminians. And as they had been in the habit of 
maintaining warm disputes with each other on the doctrines of the 
Bible, I calculated on having to encounter many trials. Contrary to 
my expectations, I found, on my first visits, many persons of different 
ages, under serious and very deep impressions, each one supposing 
his own burdens and distresses of mind, on account of his sins, to be 
singular, not having the least knowledge that any others were awa- 
kened. It was evident, that the Lord had come into the midst of us 
in the greatness of his power, producing here and there, and among 
the young and old, deep conviction of sin, and yet it was a still small 
voice. A marvellous work was begun, and it bore the most decisive 
marks of being God''s work. So great was the excitement, though 
not yet known abroad, that into whatever section of the town I now 
went, the people in that immediate neighborhood, would leave their 
worldly employments, at any hour of the day, and soon fill a large 
room. Before I was aware, and without any previous appointment, 
I found myself, on these occasions, in the midst of a solemn and 
anxious assembly. Many were in tears, and bowed down under the 
weight of their sins, and some began to rejoice in hope. These sea- 
sons were spent in prayer and exhortation, and in conversing with 
the anxious, and with such as had found relief, by submitting them- 
selves to God, adapting my instruction to their respective cases. 
This was done in the hearing of all who were present. Being then 
a youth, who had seen but twenty-four years, and inexperienced, I 
felt weak indeed ; and was often ready to sink under this vast weight 
of responsibility. But the Lord carried me along from one interesting 



APPENDIX. 271 

scene to another. I was governed, in my movements, by what ap- 
peared to me to be the exigencies of the people. 

As yet there had been no pubUc rehgious meeting, excepting on 
the Sabbath. A weekly lecture, at the meeting house, was now 
appointed, to be on Thursday ; and though it was in the most busy 
season of the year, the house was filled. This lecture was continued 
for more than six months, without any abatement of attention ; in 
sustaining which, I was aided by neighboring ministers, and by 
numbers from a distance, who came to witness this display of sove- 
reign grace. The former disputes of the people, respecting religious, 
sentiments, in a great measure, subsided, their consciences seeming 
to testify in favor of the truth. The work spread into every part of 
the town, and what was worthy of special notice, it was entirely 
confined within the limits of the town, excepting in the case of a few 
families, which usually attended public worship with us, from the 
borders of the adjacent towns. Especially powerful was the work 
among those, who had taken their stand in opposition to the small 
church, and the distinguishing doctrines of grace. Many of this 
class were convinced, that they had always lived in error and dark- 
ness, and in a state of total alienation from God. They were com- 
pelled, notwithstanding their former hatred of the prominent truths 
of the gospel, to make the interesting inquiry, ivhat shall ice do to be 
saved ? 

The truths which I exhibited in my public discourses, and in the 
many meetings between the Sabbaths, were in substance the follow- 
ing: — the holiness and mimutabilityof God , the purity and perfection 
of his law ; the entire depravity of the heart, consisting in voluntary 
opposition to God and holiness ; the fulness and all-sufficiency of the 
atonement made by Christ; the freeness of the offer of pardon, made 
to all, on condition of repentance ; the necessity of a change of heart, 
by the Holy Spirit, arising from the deep-rooted depravity of men, 
which no created arm could remove; the utter inexcusableness of 
sinners, in rejecting the kind overtures of mercy, as they acted freely 
and voluntarily in doing it; and the duty and reasonableness of im- 
mediate submission to God. These are some of the truths, which 
God appeared to own and bless, and which, through the agency of 
the Spirit, were made "quick and powerful, and sharper than any 
two-edged sword." 

Ali our religious meetings were very much thronged, and yet were 
Kiever noisy or irregular, nor continued to a late hour. They were 
characterized with a stillness and solemnity, which, I believe, have 



272 APPENDIX. 

rarely been witnessed. The converts appeared to renounce all de- 
pendence on their own doings, feeling themselves entirely destitute 
of righteousness, and that all their hope of salvation was in the mere 
mercy of God in Christ, to whom they were wiUing to be eternal 
debtors. To the praise of sovereign grace, I may add, that the work 
continued, with great regularity and little abatement, nearly eighteen 
months. In this time, as appears from the records of the church, one 
hundred and ten persons, of different ages, united themselves unto 
the Lord and his covenant people. All these were examined in the 
presence of the church, and were received, on the ground of their 
professing to have experienced a change of heart, and to have passed 
from death unto life. They appeared to exhibit the fruits of the 
Spirit, and to exemplify the rehgion of Jesus in their subsequent hves. 
The instances of apostacy have been but few. Many of them have 
finished their course, and entered into the joy of their Lord. They 
gave evidence of enduring to the end, and of departing this life, in 
the triumphs of faith. Others remain to this day, "burning and 
shining hg.hts" in the church, some in this town, and some in the new 
settlements. 

This revival of religion produced a surprising change in the religious 
sentiments and feehngs of the people, and in the general aspect of the 
town. It effected a happy union ; a union, which to an unusual ex- 
tent, has continued to the present time. After the shower of grace 
had passed over, divine influences were not altogether withholden, 
nor did the people lose their relish for reUgious meetings. Insulated 
conversions to the cross and standard of the R-edeemer, strongly 
marked as being genuine, frequently occurred. In the six following 
years, forty-two were added to the church, including some, who came 
from other churches. 

In the year 1800, we were again favored with special tokens of 
God's presence, in a work of the Holy Spirit. This display of sove- 
reign grace was witnessed, soon after I commenced a weekly religious 
conference, with particular reference to the young people ; and it was 
noticed, that the subjects of the work were confined almost wholly to 
those who attended this conference. As in the former revival, I ex- 
plained and enforced the doctrines of the gospel, showing the youth, 
who flocked together in great numbers, that sinners had brought ruin 
upon themselves, and were awfully guilty and justly condemned, and 
that all their hope of salvation was in a crucified Saviour. Prayar 
and praise accompanied this instruction. No attempts were made to 
produce an excitement, only in view of the plain truths of the gospel. 



APPENDIX, 273 

The great body of the people, as they did not attend on these means*, 
were not affected, and solemnized, as they were in the first revival ; 
but the convictions of the awakened were dear, rational, and pun^entj 
and those who received comfort, appeared understandingly to embrace 
the soul-humblino^ doctrines of the cross, and to be renewed in the 
temper of their minds. This revival occasioned an accession to the 
church of twenty-one persons, the most of whom were between the 
ages of sixteen and twenty-four. 

A few years now passed, in which we had no revival ; but many 
of our religious meetings were continued, and well attended, nor 
were we without evidence of the bestovvment of God's special mercy, 
in rescuing sinners from deserved wrath. In this time twenty-nine 
persons, including a few who brought letters, were added to the 
church. 

In September, 1806, the Lord graciously visited us again. This 
season of the outpourings of his Spirit followed the death of a youth, 
a respectable and promising young man, who had been for several 
years a constant attendant on the conferences of young people, and 
bad acquired an uncommonly good understanding of the doctrines of 
Christianity. His death, which took place when at a distance from 
home, was unexpected; and his appearance, in the last days of his 
hfe, was peculiarly calculated to arouse the attention of his youthful 
companions. It pleased a sovereign God to accompany this provi- 
dence by the influences of the Holy Spirit. The effect was immedi- 
ately visible and remarkable. On the Sabbath succeeding the arrival 
of the afflictive intelligence, I preached to a crowded assembly from 
Heb. xi. 4. "He being dead, yet speaketh." It was indeed a memo- 
rable Sabbath to many of this people. That divine influences were 
shed down upon us, that day, none could doubt. The solemn still- 
ness and the flowing tears from many eyes evinced the presence of 
the Holy Spirit. More than twenty persons, who soon after exhibited 
evidence of having bowed in humble submission at the feet of Jesus, 
dated the commencement of their serious impressions, at that time. 
This work, in its progress, resembled a plentiful shower from a small 
cloud. It was powerful and refreshing indeed in one part of the town, 
affecting more or less in almost every family, before any deep impres- 
sions were noticed in other parts of the town. Eventually the work 
spread in some measure ; but the most of the shower was apparently 
received, where divine influences first began to fall. The season was 
precious, and was continued to us about a year. Our meetings were 
the same as before, and they were characterized with the same still- 

26^- 



274 APPENDIX 

ness and solemnity. Many new family altars were erected, and 
many were embraced as the disciples of Jesus, who had practically 
set him at nought. During this revival, and soon after it, seventy-one 
persons were received to the communion of the church. 

The six following years were years of coldness and spiritual dearth 
in the church, and of uncommon stupidity among the people. During 
this time twenty-two only were gathered into the church. We seemed 
to be ripening fast for the judgments of God. 

It is proper, in this place, to mention what might have been intro- 
duced before, that the church, males and females, were frequently 
called together for the express purpose of uniting in prayer, whether 
we were favored with special divine influences or not. Many such 
meetings have been attended, in the course of every year of my min- 
istry. On these occasions, the church have been by themselves, 
confessing their sins, and imploring God to build up Zion. I have 
always been present, and the brethren, as they have been called upon 
by the pastor, have readily taken an active part, and led in these 
solemn devotions. These meetings have been very precious, and 
when closed, I have offeen heard the members say, " It is good to be 
here." They have been the means of keeping religion alive in the 
church, and of promoting brotherly love and union. We have also 
been in the practice of observing whole days of fasting and prayer in 
the church, giving opportunity to any of the people, who were dis- 
posed, to attend with us. Great numbers have usually attended on 
these occasions, beside the members of the church, and God has ap- 
peared to bless these efforts. Many have acknowledged, that they 
felt their first convictions of sin at these meetings. 

In 1813, soon after a distressing and mortal sickness, which, in a 
short time, swept off many of the inhabitants, God returned to us 
again in mercy. His special presence, in the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
w^ as manifestly with us until some time in the year following. We 
enjoyed another little harvest of souls. The same weekly meetings, 
in which prayer was a principal exercise, were continued, and the 
same course of instruction was pursued. As fruits of this work of 
the Lord, twenty persons were added to the church. 

During the next seven years, though we were not favored with 
such tokens of mercy, as might be denominated a revival, (for stupi- 
dity greatly prevailed,) yet there were many insulated cases of awa- 
kening and hopeful conversion. Our meetings, on the Lord's day, 
continued to be full, and all other meetings were attended with inte- 



APPENDIX. 275 

rest. In this time seventy-six persons were received into the church, 
fifty-two from the world, and twenty-four by letter. 

In the summer of 1821, there was an evident increase of solemnity 
in the church and cong-regation, and some individuals were known 
to be anxious for their souls. This appearance continued for several 
weeks, under the same means of grace, which the people had long 
enjoyed, but none were found who rejoiced in hope. The church 
often assembled together for prayer, and in the month of August, we 
observed a day of fasting and prayer. The meeting-house was well 
filled, and deep solemnity pervaded the congregation. The hearts of 
many seemed to " burn within them," and there were increasing in- 
dications from the rising cloud " of abundance of rain." We began 
to hear from one and another a new language, the language of sub- 
mission to God. 

At this interesting crisis, the Rev. Asahel Nettleton spent a few 
days w^ith us. He preached five sermons to overflowing assemblies, 
and his labors were remarkably blessed. The Spirit of God came 
down upon us, " like a rushing mighty wind." Conversions were 
frequent, sometimes several in a day, and the change in the feelings 
and views of the subjects was wonderful. At the suggestion of Mr. 
Nettleton, I now instituted what are called inquiring meetings. 
More than a hundred persons attended the first. These meetings, 
as I found them to be convenient, were continued through this revi- 
val ; and I have ever since made use of them, as occasion required, 
sometimes weekly, for many months in succession. The church 
have always been requested to assemble for prayer, in the upper room 
of a large school-house, in which the inquiring meetings have been 
attended. While the church have been engaged in prayer, a suffi- 
cient number of the brethren have been wdth the pastor to converse, in 
a low voice, w^ith every individual in the inquiring room, giving oppor- 
tunity for each one to make known the state of his feelings. This 
has been followed by instructions addressed to them all, and adapted 
to their cases, and by prayer. The ruined and helpless state of sin- 
ners, the exceeding wickedness of their hearts, and the awful conse- 
quences of neglecting the great salvation, have been explicitly stated, 
on these occasions, and pressed on the minds of the inquirers. They 
have not been directed to take any steps 'preparatory to their accept- 
ing of Christ, but being acquainted with the nature and terms of the 
gospel, repentance toward God, and faith in Him, *' who came to seek 
and to save that which was lost," have been enjoined upon them, as 
their immediate duty and only safe course. No language can describe 



276 APPENDIX. 

the deep feeling, which has been manifested at some of these meet- 
ings. 

The work of the Holy Spirit in 1821, was continued to us until the 
close of the year. Many young heads of families, and others in the 
midst of life were among the happy subjects. The church received 
an accession of eighty-six persons as fruits of this revival. 

Between this revival, and that which took place in 1827, the church 
received only twenty-four, and nearly half of these were recom- 
mended to us from sister churches. The seasons of prayer in the 
church were frequent, and occasionally whole days of fasting and 
prayer, which all the people were invited to attend, were observed 
The church also, by a large committee, selected from their body, vi- 
sited every family in the town, and conversed with parents and child- 
ren and domestics on the concerns of their souls, and their prospects 
for eternity, closing those interviews with prayer. This has been 
repeatedly done, within the last ten years, and sometimes the whole 
has been accomplished in one day. The people have been publicly 
notified, on the sabbath, of the particular day on which these visits 
were to be made, and the brethren appointed for this labor of love 
have had their respective districts assigned them. These have been 
solemn days, pre-eminently days of prayer in every part of the town, 
and profitable both to the brethren, who made the visits, and to the 
people who received them. 

On the sabbath preceding the first day of the year 1827, 1 invited 
the people, as had been our practice, to assemble, at the rising of the 
sun, in the sanctuary for the purpose of prayer and praise to that 
God, who had been our Preserver, and on whom we were dependant 
for all our blessings. Several hundreds convened, at that early hour, 
and some came from a distance of two and three miles. An uncom- 
mon interest was evidently felt in the meeting. Another display of 
the all-conquering grace of God commenced, which was extensive 
and very powerful. This work of the Holy Spirit continued through 
the winter and spring. Many stubborn hearts were bowed, and not 
a few of the subjects were from that class of people, who appeared 
to be far from righteousness. In the course of a few months, it was 
found that thirty new domestic altars were erected, and many of them 
near the house of God, and erected by a number of our active, busi- 
ness men. As the fruits of this revival, one hundred and twenty-five 
were added to the church. 

During the next four years, we received fourteen into the church, 
the most of whom were fi'om the Morld. 



APPENDIX. 2T7 

In the year 1831, which was a year memorable for the effusions of 
the Spirit, in almost every part of our land, this people were not 
passed by. In the fore part of this year, it pleased God again to ar- 
rest the attention of many. For a number of months, the excitement 
was very great, and our meetings were frequent, crowded, and solemn. 
Some instances of conversion early occurred, which were more strik- 
ing than any we had ever witnessed. The almighty and sovereign 
power of God was remarkably displayed, evincing the truth of his 
own declaration, " I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy." 
This revival was followed by an accession to the church of forty-four 
persons. 

The whole number received into the church, durisg my ministry, 
is six hundred and seventy- four. None of these have presented them- 
selves for examination, vmder two and three months, after they began 
to cherish a hope of having passed from death unto life, and many 
have chosen to wait longer. Whenever we have been favored with 
a season of the outpourings of the Spirit, meetings have been ap- 
pointed with particular reference to the young converts, at which they 
have been freely conversed with, respecting the ground and reason of 
their hope, and they have had opportunity to test their characters, by 
having the great truths of the gospel presented clearly to their view. 
They have been warned of the danger of being deceived. The con- 
fession of faith has also been read and explained to them, and their 
full assent to it has been obtained, before they offered themselves to 
the church. 

In all the revivals, of which I have given a brief account, it has 
been evident, that God and not man has selected the subjects of re- 
newing grace ; yet a large proportion have been taken from religious 
famihes. In some instances, heads of families, with their children 
and children's children, sit together at the table of the Lord. 

I would here remark, that several prayer meetings have been sus- 
tained in this town wholly by the female members of the church, and 
I have had no doubts of their utility. They have been the means of 
quickening those who have attended them. What rich blessings 
these prayers may have drawn down upon us, will be known in the 
great day which is approaching. But while I have rejoiced, in know- 
ing such meetings were holden, I have never countenanced the pray- 
ing of women, in promiscuous assemblies, whether great or small, 
from a full conviction, that the practice is contrary to the spirit of 
God's word. Neither have I seen it to be proper, even in seasons of 
the greatest excitement, to call upon impenitent sinners, either in our 



2?8 APPENDIX. 

public meetings, or in the inquiring room, to manifest their determina- 
tion to seek religion, or to give any pledge that they would do it. 
This would be inconsistent with the views I entertain of the depra- 
vity of the heart. It would be a departure from the practice of Christ 
and his apostles. In their preaching, they inculcated repentance and 
submission to God, as the immediate duty of sinners. 

Though all, who have been received into this church, have not ap- 
peared equally well, as being devoted and established Christians^ yet, 
generally speaking, they have exhibited evidence, in their walk, of a 
moral change, and of being on the Lord's side. We have had fre- 
quent calls for the exercise of Christian discipline. Some of the 
members have been led publicly to confess their faults, from a con- 
sciousness of their having brought reproach on the precious cause of 
Christ, and some, refusing to be reclaimed, have been cut off from 
our communion. The number of the latter is small. 

In conclusion, I will say, and I feel a pleasure in saying it, that the 
church have manifested a commendable zeal and liberality in support- 
ing the various charitable institutions of the day, and in promoting the 
cause of temperance, which, for a few years past, has been regarded 
as a subject of the deepest interest to the cause of the Redeemer, and 
to our country. 

My only apology for the length of this letter is, that I have taken 
a survey of the labors and events of forty years. 

From, Rev. Sir, your brother in Christ, 

ALVAN HYDE. ; 

Rev. William B. Sprague, D= D, 



LETTER VI 

From the REVEREND JOEL HAWES, D. D. 
Pastor of the First Congregational church, in Hartford, Conn. 

Hartford, March nth, 1832. 
My Dear Brother, 

You request me to " furnish some account of the revivals that have 
fallen under my observation, or have occurred within the sphere of 
my labors." My reply must be brief, but will, I trust, embrace the 
principal points which are of any importance to your object. 

The church of which I am pastor, like most of the early churches 
of New England, was planted in the spirit of revivals. This circum- 
stance has had great influence on its subsequent history. Revivals 
of rehgion have always been held in high estimation by the church ; 
and many have been the seasons of spiritual refreshing, with which 
God has visited this vine, since it was first planted by Hooker and 
Stone, and the faithful men who followed them into the wilderness. 
But passing over these, as not coming within the design of your 
request, it is more to the purpose to state, that when the present series 
of revivals commenced, in this part of our country, about forty years 
ago, this church shared richly in the blessing. Dr. Strong was then 
its pastor. He was a man of a clear and powerful mind, and of de- 
cidedly evangelical sentiments. During the last twenty-five years of 
his ministry, he witnessed three special seasons of revival among his 
people; in the progress of which large additions were made to the 
church, the tone of piety was much elevated, and the state of religion 
generally in the city greatly improved. The last of these seasons 
was of nearly two years' continuance, at no one time very powerful, 
but marked with a constant, silent descent of divine influence; pro- 
ducing general seriousness among the people, with frequent conver- 
sions and frequent accessions to the communion of the church. The 
fruits were decidedly good. The church was large and flourishing, 
happily united in sentiment, and " walking," in some good degree, 
*' in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost," 



2Q0 APPENDIX. 

About the close of this revival in 1816, Dr. Strong died. I was _ 
called to take charge of the church in 1818. During the first three . 
years of my ministry, though not entirely unattended with tokens of 
divine favor, I witnessed nothing like a revival among my people. 
Early in 1821, a work -of great power commenced, and continued, with 
some variations of interest, during the year. As the fruits of this visi- 
tation of mercy, nearly two hundred were added to the church. Some 
of these, as was to be expected among so large a number, have since 
given painful evidence that they were deceived in regard to thefoun- 
dation of their hope. But of the great body of them, I am happy to 
say, they have continued to adorn their profession by an exemplary 
Christian life. Since that period, we have enjoyed three other seasons 
of special rehgious attention; but neither of them was of so long con- 
tinuance, or productive of so abundant fruits as was the first. During 
the time I have been connected with the church, about five hundred 
and fifty have been added to its communion, not less than four-fifths 
of whom are to be regarded as the fruits of revivals. 

I know not that there has been any thing in the mode of conduct- 
ing the revivals with which we have been favored, or in the effects that 
have resulted from them, so peculiar as to be worthy of notice. It 
was the object of my predecessor, as it has been mine, to preach the 
doctrines of the gospel with great clearness and discrimination at 
such seasons ;— to guard against every thing like irregularity and 
noise and misguided feeling; and to encourage none in the indul- 
gence of a hope, that did not appear to be based on an intelligent con- 
viction of truth and sincere conversion of the heart to God. That the 
eflfects have, on the whole, been eminently happy, it is needless to 
affirm after what has now been stated. I have often said, in address- 
es from my pulpit, that the church is what it is very much from the in- 
fluence of revivals of religion. And it is now my sober judgment, that 
if there is, among the people of my charge, any cordial belief and love 
of the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel ; any serious practical 
regard to the duties of the Christian life ; any self-denial and bearing 
of^'the cross, and following Christ according to his commands ; any 
active benevolence and engagedness in doing good ; in short, any 
pious efficient concern for the glory of God and the salvation of sin- 
ners, either at home or abroad, in Christian or in heathen lands,— all 
this is to be traced, in no small part, to the influence of revivals of re- 
hgion ; and it is to be found, in an eminent degree, among those who 
have been added to the church as fruits of revivals. 

The above remarks, 1 doubt not, are equally applicable to the other 



APPENDIX, 281 

churches, in this city, belonging to the Congregational denomination. 
A large proportion of their members date their Christian hope from 
some season of special divine influence, and the tone of rehgious feeling 
and action has risen in proportion to the frequency with which such 
seasons have been enjoyed. Nor is this remark to be confined to the 
churches of this city. It is applicable to the churches of our connec- 
tion throughout the State. In 1829 a letter was addressed to the 
Congregational ministers of Connecticut, proposing, among other in- 
quiries, the following : — " 1. What was the whole number of profes- 
sors of religion in your church at the commencement of the year 1820? 
2. What number were added to your church by profession during the 
years 1820,-1-2-3-4? 3. Of those who are now members of your 
church, what proportion may be considered as the fruit of a revival, 
and what is their comparative standing for piety and active benevo- 
lent enterprise ?" I have not by me, at this time, the documents that 
were communicated in answer to these or other similar inquiries. But 
I am able to state, that the answers were in a high degree satisfacto- 
ry. It appeared that a very large proportion of all, who are now 
members of the Congregational churches in this state, became such 
in consequence of revivals ; that the relative proportion of such, as re- 
vivals have been multiplying, has been continually increasing ; that 
the most active and devoted Christians are among those who came 
into the church as fruits of revivals ; that those churches in which re- 
vivals have been most frequent and powerful are the most numerous 
and flourishing ; and that in all the churches thus visited with divine 
influence, there has been a great increase of Christian enterprise, and 
benevolent action. These results, stated by men who witnessed them 
in their own congregations, and many of whom, from long experience 
and observation, had the best means of judging, should silence the 
tongue of cavil and scepticism, and excite all Christians to pray, with 
warmer and holier affections, for the universal revival of God's work. 
Though I have extended this letter beyond what I intended, I feel 
constrained to add a few particulars as the result of what little experi- 
ence God has been pleased to give me in revivals of religion. 

1. The theory of revivals is very simple. It is only the increase, 
and the extension to a number of sinners, at the same time, of that in- 
fluence of the Holy Spirit, which is employed in the conversion of each 
individual sinner that is brought to repentance. 

2. I see not how any man, who believes in the doctrine of divine 
influence, or has ever witnessed a revival of religion, can, either on 

27 



282 APPENDIX. 

scriptural or rational grounds, doubt the reality or the decidedly happy 
tendency of such a work. 

3. It is pre-eminently important, that the preaching, during a re- 
vival of rehgion, should be clear, discriminating, instructive, — address- 
ed to the understanding and conscience, rather than to the feelings 
and passions. 

4. It is a great error to admit converts to the church before time has 
been allowed to try the sincerity of their hope. This is an error into 
which I was betrayed during the first revival among my people, and 
it has cost me bitter repentance. And yet none were admitted to the 
church under two months after they had indulged a hope. 

5. It is of great importance, that young converts, immediately after 
conversion, should be collected into a class by themselves and brought 
under the direct and frequent instruction of the pastor. I have pur- 
sued this plan for several years past, and with the happiest effect. 
Never are so great facilities afforded for pouring instruction into the 
minds of young converts, and forming them for a high standard of 
Christian character, as during the time that intervenes between their 
conversion and admission to the church ; and if they are continued 
from four to six months, in a course of judicious instruction and then 
admitted to the church, there is very little danger that they will after- 
wards fall away, or that they will not continue to shine as lights in the 
world till the end of life. 

6. It is very important also, that young converts should early be train- 
ed to habits of Christian activity ; — they should be drawn out and 
encouraged in the way of doing good ; and from the first, a deep and 
thorough impression should be made on their minds, that their great 
business in the world is to live and labor for Christ and his cause. 
The tone of piety and of action, which a young convert adopts dur- 
ing the first few months of his course usually goes with him through 
life. 

7. A sinner may be converted at too great an expense. I mean, 
that measures may be adopted, that shall issue in the conversion of 
a sinner, which measures may, at the same time, by exciting pre- 
judice and enmity, be the occasion of a vast deal more evil than 
good. 

8. It should be the great aim both of ministers and Christians, in a 
time of revival, so to conduct the work, both in affectionate zeal, and 
in sound Christian wisdom and prudence, that the effect may be to 
prolong the season of mercy ; to prepare the way for a return of it : 



APPENDIX. 283 

and to cause all the true friends of Christ to regard revivals as the most 
precious blessings that God bestows upon a guilty world. 

It would be easy to enlarge, but I forbear. May the blessing of the 
God of revivals attend the volume you propose to publish with a view 
to promote them, and hasten the day when he shall pour his spirit 
upon all flesh, and fill the whole earth with his praise. 
I am, dear brother, very truly and 

Affectionately yours, 

J. HAWES. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER VII. 

Feom the reverend JOHN iM'DOWELL, D. D. 

Pastor of the first Presbyterian Church, Elizabeth town, New Jersey. 

Elizabethtoiun, March 5, 1832. 
Reverend and dear brother, 

Agreeably to your request, I will endeavor to give you a brief ac- 
count of the revivals of religion, with which it has pleased a sovereign 
and gracious God to favor the church of which I am pastor. Of the 
early history of this church, I have been able to discover very little. 
It is an ancient church, having been founded about 160 years since. 
Whether it was visited with revivals, during nearly the former half 
of the period of its existence, I have not been able to ascertain. The 
fiiC^t revival of which any account has been transmitted to us, was in 
the latter part of the ministry of that eminent servant of God, the 
Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, author of " the Five Points," and of many 
other valuable works. 

Of this revival, a particular and very interesting account was given 
by Mr. Dickinson, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Foxcroft, of Boston, 
which letter is in print. From this it appears, that this special work 
visibly commenced in June, 1740, under a sermon addressed to the 
youth. " The inward distress and concern of the audience," (Mr. 
Dickinson observes,) " discovered itself by their tears, and by an au- 



284 APPENDIX. 

dible sobbing and sighing in almost all parts of the assembly." On 
the character and effects of this revival, he goes on to remark — 
" Meetings for sinful amusements were abandoned by the youth, and 
meetings for religious exercises substituted in their place. Numbers 
daily flocked to their pastor for advice in their eternal concerns. 
More came to see him on this errand in three months, than in thirty 
years before. The subjects of the work were chiefly youth. A deep 
sense of sin, guilt, danger, and despair of help from themselves, pre- 
ceded a hope in Christ. All the converts were for a considerable 
time under a law work, before they had satisfying views of their inte^ 
rest in Christ. The number of those who were savingly the subjects 
of this work was about sixty." 

In 1772, this church was again blessed with a considerable revival 
of rehgion, under the ministry of the Rev. James Caldwell. 

In 1784, this church was again visited in a special manner with the 
influences of the Holy Ghost. This was just after the close of the 
revolutionary war ; and the people were without a house of worship, 
and without a pastor ; the church having been burned and the pastor 
slain near the close of the war. This revival continued about two 
years ; and time has abundantly proved that it was a genuine and 
glorious work of God. A number of the subjects are still Uving, and 
are truly fathers and mothers in Israel. Nearly all the session, and 
almost half the members of the church, when the writer settled here, 
were the fruits of this revival ; and he has had an opportunity of 
knowing them by their fruits ; he has been with many of them when 
about to pass over Jordan, and from their triumphant death as well 
as exemplary life, he can testify to the genuineness of the work. 

From the time of this revival to the settlement of the writer, there 
were two seasons of more than ordinary interest, when the number of 
additions to the communion of the church was considerably increased. 

The subscriber was settled as pastor of this congregation December 
1804. In August 1807, a powerful and extensive revival commenced. 
The first decisive evidence of the special presence and power of the 
Holy Spirit, was on the Sabbath, under a powerful sermon on prayer, 
by the Rev. Dr. Gideon Blackburn. A number were awakened that 
day; and new cases of conviction, and hopeful conversion, were for 
a considerable time occurring at almost every rehgious meeting. 
The special attention continued for about eighteen months, and the 
number added to the communion of the church, as the fruits of this 
gracious work, was about 120. The subjects of it were generally 
deeply exercised ; and most of them continued for a considerable 



APPENDIX. 285 

time in a state of distress, before they enjoyed the comforts of the 
hope of the gospel. This revival was the first I had ever seen ; and 
it was a solemn situation, for a young man, totally inexperienced in 
such scones. It was general through the congregation, and in a few 
weeks extended into neighboring congregations, and passed from 
one to another, until in the course of the year, almost every congre- 
gation in what was then the Presbytery of Jersey, was visited. 

The next revival with which the Lord favored my ministry, visibly 
commenced in December 1812. It was on a communion Sabbath. 
There was nothing peculiarly arousing in the preaching. I was not 
expecting such an event ; neither as far as I have ever discovered, 
was there any peculiar engagedness in prayer, or special desire or 
expectation on the part of Christians. I saw nothing unusual in the 
appearance of the congregation ; and it was not until after the services 
of the day were ended, when several called in deep distress to ask me 
what they should do to be saved, that I knew that the Lord was 
specially in this place. This was a day of such power, (though I 
knew it not at the time,) that as many as thirty who afterwards joined 
the church, were then first awakened. And it is a remarkable cir- 
cumstance that the same powerful influence was experienced, on the 
same day, in both of the Presbyterian churches in the neighboring 
town of Newark. It was also communion seasons in both those 
churches. This revival continued about a year ; and the number of 
persons added to the communion of this church as its fruits was about 
one hundred and ten. The subjects of this revival generally were 
deeply and long distressed, and in many instances, their distress 
affected their bodily frames. Frequently, sobbing aloud was heard 
in our meetings, and in some instances, there was a universal trem- 
bling, and in others a privation of bodily strength, so that the subjects 
were not able to get home without help. In this respect this revival 
was different from any others which I have witnessed. I never dared 
to speak against this bodily agitation, lest I should be found speaking 
against the Holy Ghost ; but I never did any thing to encourage it. 
It may be proper here to relate one case of a young man, who was 
then a graduate of one of our colleges, and is now a very respectable 
and useful minister of Christ. Near the commencement of the revival 
he was led for the first time, reluctantly, and out of complaisance to 
his sisters, to a meeting in a private house. I was present, and spoke 
, two or three times between prayers in which some of my people led. 
The audience was solemn, but perfectly still. I commenced leading 
in the concluding prayer. A suppressed sob reached my ear: it 

27* 



286 APPENDIX. 

continued and increased : I brought the prayer speedily to a close, 
and cast my eyes over the audience, when behold, it was this careless 
proud young man, who was standing near me, leaning on his chair 
sobbing, and trembling in every part like the Philippian jailer. He 
raised his eyes towards me, and then tottered forward, threw his arms 
on my shoulders, and cried out, " what shall I do to be saved ?" A 
scene ensued, the like of which I never witnessed. The house was 
full, and there was immediately, by the power of sympathy I suppose, 
a universal sobbing through the assembly. He repeatedly begged 
me to pray for him. I felt so overcome with the solemnity of the 
scene, and fearful of the disorder which might ensue in the excited 
state of feehng, that I held this trembhng young man forhalf anhour, 
without speaking a word. I then persuaded him to go home with 
me, and the audience to retire. His strength was so weakened that 
he had to be supported. From that hour he appeared to give his 
whole soul to the subject of religion. He continued in a state of deep 
anxiety and distress for nearly two months, when he settled down in 
a peaceful state of mind, hoping in the Saviour. 

About the beginning of February, 1817, this church was again 
visited with a great revival of rehgion. It commenced most signally, 
as an immediate answer to the united prayers of God's people. The 
session, impressed with a sense of the comparatively low state of 
religion among us, agreed to spend an afternoon together in prayer. 
The congregation were informed of this on the Sabbath, and a request 
made that Christians would at the same time retire to their closets, 
and spend a season in prayer for the influences of the Spirit to descend 
upon us. The season appointed was the next afternoon ; and that 
evening was the monthly concert of prayer, which was unusually full 
and solemn ; and before the week was out, it was manifest that the 
Lord was in the midst of us, in a very special manner. Many cases 
of awakening came to my knowledge ; and the work soon spread 
throughout the congregation. This revival was marked, not by the 
deep distress of the preceding, but by a general weeping in religious 
meetings. There was doubtless much of sympathy. A larger pro- 
portion than usual of the subjects were young, and many of them 
children. Some were long in darkness ; but most of them, much 
sooner than in either of the former revivals of my ministry, professed 
to have embraced the Saviour. The number in the congregation who 
professed to be seriously impressed, amounted to several hundreds. 
The special attention continued about a year ; and the number added 
to the communion of the church durino^ that time was about one 



APPENDIX, 287 

hundred and eighty. It was during this revival that you visited this 
place, and spent some time with us while a student in Princeton 
Seminary. 

About the close of the year 1819, it pleased a gracious God to grant 
to this church another season of special refreshing. This was not so 
general through the congregation as the former ; but was confined 
to particular neighborhoods. Christians did not appear to be specially 
awake to the subject, either before it commenced or during its pro- 
gress. The subjects were generally from among the most unlikely 
famiUes and characters ; from the highways and hedges ; while the 
children of the kingdom were generally passed by. The special 
attention continued about a year ; and the number added to the com- 
munion of the church as its fruits, was about sixty. 

In the early part of the year 1824, there was a considerable increase 
of attention to the subject of religion, which continued through the 
year 1825. About sixty were added to the communion of the church 
during this time, as the fruits of this special influence. But the work 
did not terminate with this ingathering. These were but as drops 
before a mighty shower. About the beginning of December, 1825, 
the work was greatly increased. It commenced visibly on a day of 
fasting and prayer, appointed by the synod of New Jersey, on account 
of the absence of divine influences from their churches generally. 
Within a few weeks many were awakened and brought to seek the 
Lord. This revival, with few exceptions, was not marked by deep 
distress, and the subjects of it, generally, soon professed to hope in 
Christ, It continued through the year 1826, during which time about 
one hundred and thirty were added to the communion of this church, 
as its fruits. 

In the winter and spring of 1829, a partial season of refreshing was 
again experienced, and about twenty-five were added to our com- 
munion. Again it pleased a gracious God specially to visit some 
neighborhoods of the congregation, through the winter and spring of 
1831. The fruits of this visitation, which have been gathered in 
through the year past, amount to about forty. 

In 1820, a second Presbyterian church was organized in the town ; 
and in the revivals which we have experienced since that congregation 
w^as formed, a similar gracious influence has been enjoyed among 
them. 

Thus I have given you a brief statement of facts respecting what 
the Lord has done among the people of my charge. Allow me now 
to close the narrative with a few remarks. Between these seasons of 



288 APPENDIX. 

special refreshing we have constantly had additions to the church. 
As to the genuineness of the work, I have had time to form a judg- 
ment, especially with respect to the revivals in the earher part of my 
ministry ; and I can testify that the subjects of them have generally 
manifested that they had experienced a true work of grace in their 
hearts. Very few apostacies have occurred among those who have 
been added to the church in revivals ; quite as few in proportion to 
their numbers, as among those who have been brought in, when there 
was no special attention ; and the former have generally been as 
steadfast, and adorned their profession quite as well as the latter. 
Of the subjects of the revivals which have occurred under my ministry, 
a number have become ministers of the gospel. In looking over the 
list, I find the names of twelve who have since entered the ministry, 
several of whom are now usefully occupying important stations in the 
chur<;h, and some have gone to their gracious reward. Nine more 
are now in the different stages of education preparatory to the gospel 
ministry. 

Another remark I would make, is, that we have carefully guarded 
against a speedy admission to the privileges of the church. Seldom 
in times of revival have we admitted persons to the communion in 
less than six months after they first became serious. Again I would 
remark, that from what I have seen, I have drawn the conclusion, 
that it is wrong to prescribe any particular manner for the Spirit's 
operations. There has been a difference in this respect in almost 
every revival which I have witnessed. There have been diversities 
of operations ; but time has shown that it was the same Spirit. The 
subjects of these revivals and additions to the church, have, the great 
majority of them, been in the morning of life, and many while yet 
children have been impressed ; but we have very seldom received any 
very young persons to communion. The means which have been 
constantly employed during my ministry, and which God has blessed, 
beside the preaching of the word on the Sabbath, and frequently on 
other days of the week in different neighborhoods of the congregation, 
have been catechetical and Bible-class instruction, and family visiting j 
and to these may be added meetings for social prayer. 

In conclusion I would add, that appearances among my people at 
present are very favorable. There is much increase of attention to 
the means, and of solemnity in attending upon them. Many Christ- 
ians appear to be much quickened in duty, and to be earnestly praying 
that the Lord would appear again in his glory in the midst of us, to 
biuild up Zion j and a number have recently been awakened to serious 



APPfiNDIX. 



289 



concern about their soul's salvation. We are anxiously looking for 
a time of general revival , but what will be the result time must 
show. 

With sincere and fraternal respect, I am, 

Dear Sir, yours, 

JOHN M'DOWELL. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D, 



LETTER VIIi; 

From the REVEREND NOAI^ PORTER, D. D. 
Pastor of a Congregational church in Farraington, Connecticut. 

Farmingtcn, March 12, 1832, 
Dear Sir, 

Revivals of religion, considered as the effects of a divine influence 
prevailing throughout a whole congregation at the same time, have 
not been as frequent in this town, as in many places around us. In 
different sections of the town, at different times, they have not, for a 
few of the last years, been unfrequent; but often, when we have 
hoped for a general revival, we have been disappointed. Perhaps, 
this may in part be ascribed to our circumstances. About one half 
of the inhabitants belong to the central village, and the other half to 
surrounding neighborhoods, distant from the centre, two, three, and 
four miles. The latter, on account of their relative situation, have no 
free and easy intercourse with the rest of the town ; and the former, 
for the last half century, have been divided, by adventitious circum- 
stances, into distinct classes, whose intimacies have been very much 
confined to their respective limits. Hence it has been difficult to 
diffuse a common sentiment and feeling, on almost all subjects, and 
on the subject of religion, as on others. 

The era of modern revivals, in this country, is reckoned, I believe, 
from the year 1792. In the autumn of 1793, there appeared, in this 
place, a spirit of unusual seriousness and inquiry, on the concerns of 
salvation. It was under the preaching of Dr. Griffin. He was then 



290 APPENDIX. 

a licentiate J and with all the ardor of his youth, together with the 
freshness of his "first love," he preached here the same system of 
truth, which he has continued so powerfully and successfully to in- 
culcate. It was not another system than had been preached in this 
town from the time of its first organization ; but there were certain 
leading topics, such as the radical defect of the best doings of the 
impenitent, the duty of immediate repentance, the freeness of evan- 
gelical offers, and the natural ability of men to accept them, and the 
consistency of all these with the purposes of God, the election of the 
heirs of life, and the grace of God in their regeneration, which he 
presented with a clearness and a force that were new. There was 
also a simplicity, a vividness, and an affection in his manner, which 
gave the truth access to the mind. The careless were obliged to 
hear, and the young and the ignorant could understand. What 
number of conversions took place under his preaching, I cannot say j 
but the spirit of religious inquiry silently increased, and under the 
labors of Rev. Mr. Washburn, who was installed as pastor of the 
church in 1795, the influences of grace came down "as the rain upon 
the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." The work, 
was noiseless, and, in the common intercourse of life, an ordinary 
observer would scarcely perceive it ; but for a whole year it was ap- 
parent in the prayerfulness, union, and fidelity of the church, in the 
solemnity of religious assemblies, and in the conversion of sinners. 
Fifty-five, as fruits of the revival, were admitted to the communion 
of the church, in the course of that year, and the succeeding one ; 
only two of whom have since given us any reason to distrust their 
sincerity. 

In the year 1799, there was a revival in at least fifty adjoining con- 
gregations in this state ; the character of which, in them all, was re- 
markably similar,^and, I thinki may say, remarkably happy. In some 
of these congregations, it commenced in the fall of 1 798. In this town 
it began in February, 1799, and first appeared in the sohcitude of 
Christians for the restored presence of God. Hearing of the goings 
of their King around them, humbled with the sense of their backslid- 
ing, and anxious, though not disheartened, in view of forbidding cir- 
cumstances in the state of the people, a number of them, after mutual 
consultation, solemnly agreed to devote themselves to renewed pray- 
erfulness and diligence, casting themselves on the sovereign will of 
God. On^the Sabbath after their conference, the pastor addressed the 
congregation on the subject of a revival, and appointed public lec- 
tures to be attended, on the next day and evening, at the meeting- 



APPENDIX. 291 

house. At the lectures two neighboring ministers were present, the 
sermons were followed by plain and pungent addresses — the assem- 
bhes were large, and the impression was general and solemn, so that 
from about that time, the commencement of a revival was manifest. 
Beside the customary services of the Sabbath, a weekly lecture was 
delivered in the meeting-house ; a meeting for the young was held on 
Monday evenings at the house of the pastor; and, as frequently as his 
other duties would allow, lectures were preached at the school-houses 
in the extreme neighborhoods; all of which were attended fully and 
eagerly. Persons of both sexes, and almost every age, and many 
from a distance of four and five miles, were seen, pressing through 
storms, and making their way over heavy roads, to hear the word of 
God ; and the house of the pastor was almost daily the resort of the 
anxious. Besides these means, and such as naturallf resulted from the 
feelings of the pious, in the ordinary intercourse of life, no others were 
employed. No meetings were pubHcly appointed for the anxious ; — • 
no invitation was given to them, or to new converts, in promiscuous 
assemblies, to relate their experience, or to address the people ; no 
attempts of any kind were made to excite feeling or move sympathy, 
beside a plain exhibition and a close application of the truth of God. 
The work continued in progress seven or eight months. About one 
hundred persons were considered serious inquirers, of whom about 
seventy were reckoned subjects of deep conviction, and the same 
number, including a few who dated their conversion from the preced- 
ing revival, and were now established in hope, were gathered into the 
church. These were received, at different times, from August of the 
same year, till nearly the close of the year following. With a fe*v 
exceptions, they have adorned their profession ; many of them hive 
been distinguished for their intelligence, stability, and substantial 
fruits of holiness. 

After this revival, for more than twenty years, conversiors were 
comparatively unfrequent. There were seasons of increased attention 
to religion, and with no long intervals there were instances of hopeful 
conversion; but the general tone of evangelical feeUng gradually de- 
cHned, and the whole number added to the church, both bj letter and 
by original profession, but httle exceeded two hundred, or about ten 
in a year — a number not equal to that of removals from ^the church, 
nor half the number of deaths in the parish. God, at the same time, 
rebuked our hardness of heart, by terrible dispensations ; commission- 
ing a fatal epidemic to enter our houses, and people our grave-yards. 
Scarcely a family was exempt ; and yet our families were generally 



292 APPENDIX. 

prayerless, and our hearts impenitent. I do not know of more than 
a single individual, who has ever^professed to have come fo repent- 
ahce by means of the awful visitation. Our condition was the more 
affecting, because the showers of mercy had refreshed most of the 
congregations around us, and some of them repeatedly, while we re- 
mained, as the place on which there was, in the comparison, no rain. ._ 
At the close of this period, the whole number in the church was about 
two hundred ; the greater part of these hved in the remoter neighbor- 
hoods ; and there was but few among them in younger life, and but 
few males of any age. 

The year 1821 was eminently, in Connecticut, a year of revivalsf. 
Between eighty and a hundred congregations were signally blessed* 
From the commencement of the year, a new state of feeling began to 
appear in the town. On the first Sabbath in February, I stated to the 
assembly the tokens of the gracious presence of God in several places 
of the vicinity, and urged the duties pecuHarly incumbent on us at 
such a season. This I had often done before, but not with the same 
effect. Professors of religion now began evidently to awake. They 
had an anxiety for themselves and for the people, that would allow 
them no rest. In their communications with each other and with the 
world, they were led spontaneously to confess their unfaithfulness, 
and a few without the church, about the same time, were pungently 
convicted. In this state of things, Rev. Mr, Nettleton made us his 
first visit. His preaching on the evening of a Lord's day, in this 
month, from Acts ii. 37, was set home by the power of the Spiri^upon 
the hearts of many ; and his discourse on the Wednesday evening fol- 
lowing, from Genesis vi. 3, was blessed to the conviction of a still 
greater number. As many as fifty persons, it was afterwards ascer- 
tained, dated their first decided purpose of immediately seeking their 
salvation from that evening ; and it is worthy of remark, that the same 
sermon was preached on the following week to two other large and 
solemn assemblies, in adjoining parishes, with no special effect that 
could afterwards be traced. The fact probably was, that here it con- 
vinced numbers that the Spirit was already striving with them, and 
that then was their day. " A word spoken in due season, how good 
is it?" At a meeting of the anxious on the evening of February 26, 
there were present about a hundred and seventy. Here were persons 
of almost every age and class — some who, a few weeks before, had 
put the subject of serious piety at scornful distance, and others who 
had drowned every thought of religion in giddy mirth, now bending 
their knees together in supplication, or waiting in silent reflection, for 



APPENDIX. 293 

a minister of the Gospel to pass along, and tell them, individually, 
what they must do. Twelve were found to have lately become peace- 
ful in hope, and a great number to be powerfully convicted of sin. 
From this time, so rapid was the progress of the work, that at the next 
similar meeting, March 12th, there were present a hundred and eighty, 
(the room would hold no more,) of whom fifty supposed that, since 
the commencement of the revival, they had become'reconciled to God • 
and, a week afterwards, I had the names of more than ninety, who 
indulged the same persuasion concerning themselves. 

The state of feeling which, at this time, pervaded the town, was 
interesting beyond description. There was no commotion ; but a 
stillness, in our very streets ; a serenity in the aspect of the pious; and 
a solemnity apparent in almost all, which forcibly impressed us with 
the conviction, that, in very deed, God luasin this place. Public meet- 
ings, however, were not very frequent. They were so appointed, as 
to afford the opportunity for the same individuals to hear preaching 
twice a week, besides on the Sabbath. Occasionally there were also 
meetings of an hour in the morning or at noon, at private dwellings, 
at which the serious in the neighborhood were convened, on short 
notice, for prayer and conference. The members of the church also 
met weekly, in convenient sections, for prayer, and commonly on the 
evening selected for the meetings of the anxious. From these vari- 
ous meetings, the people were accustomed to retire directly, and with 
little communication together, to their respective homes. They were 
disposed to be much alone, and were spontaneously led to take the 
word of God for their guide. The Bible was preferred to all other 
books, and was searched daily and with eager inquiry. 

Mr. Nettleton continued with us, except during a few short inter- 
vals, till about the middle of April. To his labors, so far as human 
instrumentality was directly concerned, the progress of the revival 
must chiefly be ascribed. The topics on which he principally dwelt, 
were the unchangeable obligations of the divine law, the deceitful and 
entirely depraved character of the natural heart, the free and indis- 
criminate offers of the gospel ; the reasonableness and necessity of 
immediate repentance ; the variety of those refuges and excuses to 
which awakened sinners are accustomed to resort ; and the manner, 
guilt and danger of slighting, resisting and opposing the operations 
of the Holy Spirit. His addresses were not formal discussions, first 
of one and then of another of these subjects, but a free declaration of 
the truth of God concerning them all, just as they lie in the course of 
spiritual experience, and would best subserve the particular end which 

28 



294 APPENDIX. 

he was laboring at the time to gain. They were too plain to be mis- 
understood, too fervent to be unheeded, and too searching and con- 
vincing to be treated with indifference. 

It was a favorable circumstance that among the first subjects of the 
work, there was a large proportion of the more wealthy and intelligent 
class. A considerable number of youths, belonging chiefly to this 
class, had just finished a course of biblical instruction, for which I had 
met them weekly for more than a year. These, with scarcely an excep- 
tion, at the commencement of the revival, embraced the gospel which 
they had learned ; and by their experience of its power, commended 
it to the families where they belonged. Within about three months, 
I suppose there were two hundred and fifty members of the congrega- 
tion, who supposed that they had passed from death unto life. On the 
first Sabbath in June a hundred and fourteen were added to the 
church ; and at subsequent periods, a hundred and twenty besides. 
Of these a few have since been rejected, and others have declined from 
their first love. But I have not perceived that a greater proportion of 
hopeful conversions in this revival, than in others, previous or subse- 
quent to it, have proved unsound. Many have died, and many have 
removed from our immediate connection, but those who remain, now 
constitute the chief strength of the church. 

In the winter of 1823, there was a revival in two contiguous school 
districts of this town. Insulated in their situation, they alone shared 
in the blessing, except a few individuals who attended the meetings 
there. It commenced in the revived piety of a few members of the . 
church whom God honored as instruments of his grace to others. 
Generally, when a revival has occurred among us, God has prepared 
some of his servants for the work, and theh reward has been a perma- 
nent increase of their piety and spiritual enjoyment. By this revival, 
ten were joined to the church in the summer following. 

In the summer of 1826, three young females of this congregation, 
then residing in Hartford, were made partakers of a gracious effusion 
in the school of which they were members. The first information of 
this was communicated to some of their companions in the academy 
in this town, with an earnest persuasion immediately to seek their sal- 
vation, and on the evening of the same day, their parents were assem- 
bled for prayer, and exhorted to be faithful to them. In these mea- 
sures the teachers of the academy took a ready part, and immediately 
a revival commenced, which continued to the end of the term ; and in 
which almost the whole school received deep impressions of divine 
ruth. Exclusively of a number belonging to other congregationSj 



APPENDIX. 295 

who were hopefully converted, and including a few youths, who, 
though not at that time members of the school, shared in the blessing ; 
twenty-five, in consequence, were admitted to the church, in the 
spring and summer of the following year. These were chiefly females 
from twelve to sixteen years old. It was on account of their tender 
age that their admission to the church was so long delayed. Some, in 
the mean time, declined a public profession of their faith ; but of those 
who joined in that profession, no one has given serious occasion of dis- 
trusting the sincerity of it. 

In the fall of 1S28, a revival which had commenced in a neighboring 
congregation, ex tended to the eastern district of this town, and con- 
tinued there with signal power through the winter, and a number of 
individuals in other parts of the town also were converted. There 
religious meetings were more frequent, and the excitement was strong- 
er, than in any other revival in which I have been personally concern- 
ed. As fruits of it, thirty-seven were added to the church. Several 
others came to the enjoyment of hope, some of whom have appeared 
to be constant followers of Christ, while the goodness of others has 
been as the morning cloud. 

Early in the last year, and more immediately in consequence of a 
surprising instance of conversion in the neighborhood, a number of 
the members of the church Were stirred up to a new spirit of repent- 
ance and prayer, which was gradually extended to others in almost 
all parts of the town. In the month of April we had a protracted 
meeting of four days. The assemblies were full, and impressions of 
the truth seemed to be extensively felt ; and on the last day thirty or 
forty persons came to an avowed purpose of earnestly attending to the 
concerns of their salvation. Yet the impression on the minds of the 
people at large was not such as long remained, amidst the cares of the 
opening spring. A number, however, will forever remember the 
grace of God which crowned the solemnity. We have since admit- 
ted forty to the communion of the church, about two-thirds of whom 
date their conversion from the revival last spring. 

It thus appears that, by these gracious visitations, during a period 
of thirty-seven years, four hundred and sixty persons have been added 
to this church. Within the same period, the whole number added 
beside, only a httle exceeds three hundred, and of these more than one 
hundred have come from other churches. Of the other two hundred, 
how many have dated their conversion from seasons of revival, it is 
impossible for me to say ; but that a very large proportion of them, 
have either reckoned their conversion from these seasons, or then 



2% APPENDIX, 

received their first permanent impressions of divine truth, I have no 
doubt. In these few short seasons, God has done far more for us, 
than during all the protracted months and years that have intervened ; 
and indeed, it has seemed to be chiefly in these that the church has 
so far renewed her strength, as to hold forth her testimony with any 
degree of success in the intervals. But for revivals, as it seems to us, 
the church would well nigh have ceased to exist, or have lost her dis- 
tinctive character, in the spirit of the world. 

No agency was ever more decisively manifested by its effects, than 
has been the agency of the Holy Spirit in these revivals. The ob-, 
server who should have watched them with the minutest care j who 
should have brought together the greatest number of facts ; who 
should have become the best acquainted with the previous character, 
education and circumstances of the subjects of the work, and com- 
pared them with those of their connections, who have had no similar 
experience, would have the strongest conviction. I cannot hesitate to 
say, that according to all correct reasoning on other subjects, no ade- 
quate cause can be assigned for these effects, but that which the Apos- - 
tie Peter named, when on the day of Pentecost, he said to the doubt- 
ing multitude, " This Jesus being at the right hand of God exalted, 
and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, 
hath shed forth that which ye do see and hear." Still, in the moral, 
as in the natural world, God^ performs his work by wisely appointed 
means. Among the means, not the least important has been found 
the union of Christians, in distinctly and obediently seeking the bless- 
ing, confiding in the promises of God. Our want of this, I have been - 
led to consider a principal reason why the partial revivals which we 
have had, have not been more extensive. Individual Christians there 
have been, who have come up to the help of the Lord ; but often we 
have not had that common sympathy — that coming together to the 
work, which ought always, and more especially at such seasons, to 
characterize a church. Meetings appointed especially for persons in 
an anxious state have also been found important not merely on account 
of the opportunity which they afford for appropriate instruction, but as 
means of assisting the struggling and wavering mind, by a consider- 
ation of the question concerning an attendance on them. 

That much depends on the character of preaching in revivals, can- 
not be doubted ; and in this perhaps nothing is more important than a 
scriptural and skilful application of the doctrines of dependance on the 
one hand and of obligation on the other. I have sometimes painfully ap- 
prehended, that but for my own indiscretion in this respect, our experi- 



APPENDIX. 297 

ence during the twenty tedious years that followed the revival in 1799, 
more than two-thirds of which were subsequent to my ordination, 
might have been different. Those doctrines which exhibit God as the 
sovereign cause, — decrees, election, &c., had, for a series of years, been 
leading topics of preaching in this town ; and by means of them, many 
self-dependant hopes had been destroyed, many hearts of enmity 
against God unveiled, and many souls converted and saved. But 
many also remained unconverted; and the time at length arrived, when 
this kind of preaching had produced its full effect upon them. They 
either would not listen to it, or they made it a pretext for abandoning 
all serious attention to their salvation. Now, dear sir, never for a mo- 
ment have I doubted the importance of an undisguised declaration of 
the whole counsel of God, and particularly of those doctrines which 
exhibit the dependence of fallen man on the sovereign grace of God j 
but if experience and observation have taught me any thing, it is, that 
there is a way of discussing these subjects most logically in the pulpit 
which does little good ; that there are theories sometimes connected 
with them which are productive of great evil ; and that even when 
preached as they lie in the sacred volume, if the hearers are not also 
taught their relations to God, as accountable subjects of his govern- 
ment, and capable heirs of salvation, and if the obligations and encou- 
ragements which belong to these relations, are not carried home to 
their hearts, a general recklessness as to the concerns of salvation 
may be expected to prevail. If they are not in fact, made to feel 
that they are their own destroyers, that fallen, dependent and lost 
as they are, salvation is most freely and sincerely offered to them, and 
that if they perish, the blame must forever rest upon themselves ; no 
wonder if hard thoughts of God, and a heartless, discouraged and ob- 
durate spirit of self-justification be the general result. That preaching 
no doubt is the best, which is most conformed to the example of Him 
who was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but showed first to 
them at Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of 
Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that men should repent and turn to 
-God, and do works meet for repentance. 

I am, dear sir, most affectionately. 
Your fellow servant 

In the gospel of Christ, 

N. PORTER. 
Rev, W. B. Sprague, D, D. 

28* 



LETTER I X * 

From the late REVEREND EDWARD PAYSON, D. D. 
Pastor of a Congregational church, in Portland, Maine. 

PortlandyMay 29, 1821. 
Dear Brother, 

I have just received the " Narrative, &c,"f which you were so kind 
as to send me, and for which I return you many thanks. It was in- 
deed highly acceptable, and I wish it was in my power to write some- 
thing which would be equally acceptable to you. But I am just reco- 
vering from a long and severe illness, and am still too feeble to make 
much use of a pen ; and were I in usual health I could write nothing 
which would be of any service to you. I will, however, in compli- 
ance with your request, state a few facts relative to my ministry. 

I have been connected with this society about thirteen years. We 
have had no general revival, but there has been some religious atten- 
tion during the whole period of my ministry. The smallest number 
which has been added to the church in any one year, is eighteen ; 
the largest, eighty-four ; annual average, about forty. I established 
inquiring (or, as they are called in the Narrative, anxious) meetings 
soon after I came here, and have continued them without interrup- 
tion, (except on account of ill health for a few weeks,) unto the pre- 
sent time. We conduct them precisely as they are conducted with 
you, and have found them exceedingly useful. The number of in- 
quirers has often been small, but we have always had some, and the 
number has increased or diminished, as the church has been more or 
less engaged in prayer. We have found no means so much blessed 
to keep religion alive in the church as fasting and prayer. Ever since 
my settlement, the church has set apart one day quarterly for this 
purpose. On these occasions, our first great object is to obtain just 

* This letter was obligingly furnished me by an esteemed clerical brother, to 
whom it was addressed. 

t Narrative of the extensive revival of religion which occurred about this 
time within the limits of the Albany Presbytery. 



APPENDIX. 299 

views of our sins. With this view, the several beings with whom 
we are connected are mentioned ; the duties we owe to each are 
pointed out, and the inquiry, "how far have you performed these du- 
ties during the last three months," is pressed upon the consciences of 
all present. Every other means which we can devise to set our sins 
fully before us, and to excite deep repentance is also employed. 
Then, as the Jewish high priest was directed to lay his hand on the 
head of the scape goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the 
children of Israel, so we attempt, in the exercise of faith, to bring all 
our sins to Christ, and confess them as at the foot of the cross, plead- 
ing that pardon may be granted and sealed to us afresh for his sake. 
We then proceed to a solemn renewal of our covenant with God, after 
which, in a number of prayers, we plead for all the blessings of the 
covenant. Days thus spent have been exceedingly profitable. But 
my weakness forbids me to say more. Indeed, I have written thus 
far rather to show my readiness to comply with your request, than 
with a hope that any thing which I can write will be profitable. I 
rejoice in God's goodness to you, and should my life be spared shall 
be glad to hear from you often. 

That God may continue to bless your labors, and make you far 
more faithful than I have been, is the prayer of 
Your friend and brother, 

EDWARD PAYSON. 



LETTER X. 

From the REVEREND ALEXANDER PROUDFIT, D. D. 

Pastor of an Associate Reformed church, in Salem, New York. 

Salem, April 4, 1832. 
Mt Esteemed Friend, 

I received your letter, and agreeably to your request, venture to 
communicate my views on the nature of revivals of religion — a sub- ' 
ject which so deeply involves the peace and prosperity of the Ameri- 
can churches. 

This is the thirty-eighth year of my ministerial labors in Salem. 
We have uniformly been in the habit of dispensing the ordinance of 
the Supper four times in the year, and so far as I recollect, have never 
had a sacramental occasion without some accession to our numbers. 
But during this long period we have enjoyed, at different intervals^ 
what would now be pronounced " a revival of religion." The refresh- 
ing influences of divine grace descended silently and softly upon the 
heritage of the Lord, like the showers of spring after the dreariness 
and barrenness of winter. A genial warmth appeared to pervade the 
whole church, to the joy of the generation of the righteous, and at 
the same time, multitudes were added to the Lord by an external pro- 
fession of his name. One of these occasions occurred in the year 
1796, when a very unusual influence apparently accompanied the out- 
ward dispensation of the word, sealing it upon the souls both of sin- 
ners and saints. A similar season occurred about six years after- 
wards ; and another and still more memorable visitation of the Spirit 
was enjoyed in the year 1835. During all these seasons of enlarge- 
ment to myself, and of spiritual joy to the children of adoption, under 
my immediate care, and of the "espousals of others to Jesus as their 
husband,'' no extra efforts were used ; no brethren from other towns 
were called in to our aid, but the work advanced silently and regu- 
larly, promoted exclusively under the divine blessing by the ordinary 
administration of ordinances, private and public. Yet, during the 
whole course of my ministry, I have never been favored with sea- 



APPENDIX, 301 

sons more delightful in their recollection ; none the results of which I 
anticipate with more joy on that day when the final account of my 
stewardship will be required. Contemplated in a moral or spiritual 
light, the work on those occasions might be compared to that gradual 
yet perceptible reanimation, which pervades the vegetable world 
amidst the vernal showers, and the refreshing influences of the return- 
ing sun, when the face of nature is clothed with fresh verdure, and 
the trees which had stood barren, are adorned with blossoms and fruit. 
These might emphatically be called "times of refreshing from the 
presence of the Lord ;" and yet I know of no particular cause, ex- 
cept on the last occasion, the revival of the Lord's work appeared to 
come as an answer to extraordinary importunity in prayer. Few 
churches during this period, perhaps, have been more honored for 
raising up young men to adorn the ministerial office ; — men full of 
the "Holy Ghost and of faith," who now appear as " burning and 
shining lights" in various parts of our country. On one occasion in 
the autumn of 1815, six youths took their seats together at the sacra- 
mental table, who are now exercising the ministry of reconciliation, 
and some of them with more than ordinary success. These facts I 
feel constrained particularly to notice, for the purpose of correcting 
that novel and prevailing opinion, that religion cannot flourish with- 
out some special and unusual effort. 

In the year 1824, a revival of a different character from those I have 
already mentioned, appeared. Several persons residing in different 
parts of our town, were suddenly and almost simultaneously struck 
with deep convictions of sin. This arrested the attention of the 
friends of religion ; meetings for prayer and conference were held 
almost every day in the week, and generally crowded to overflowing. 
These meetings were usually attended by the Rev. Mr. Tomb or my- 
self, with private members of the church, who assisted in the reli- 
gious services: ministers and private Christians from other towns 
were called in, and aflTorded their aid. So far as I recollect, there was 
rarely any instance of disorder, although I have seen multitudes 
melted in tears, and during the year great numbers were added to 
the fellowship of the two churches. 

In May, 1831, during my absence, a protracted meeting, as it is 
generally termed, was held in Mr. Tomb's society, which was at- 
tended by a variety of ministers from different parts of the country. 
A great excitement was produced in almost every part of the town, 
which has resulted in the addition of a large number to our churches. 

With respect to the fruits of these revivals, on which you desire 



302 APPENDIX. 

information, I have almost uniformly remarked that where the sub- 
jects had been early and competently instructed, the impressions have 
been permanent; those of this character who assumed the profession 
of religion have been enabled to persevere ; but in other instances 
the excitement has too often been transient as " the morning cloud 
and the early dew:" the latter class, hke those in the parable of the 
sower, I have frequently seen receive the word with joy, but not hav- 
ing root in themselves, endured for a time, and afterwards returned 
to the world. From these facts, founded on long observation, I have 
been particularly impressed with the importance of early instruction* 
I feel more strongly attached to the good old way trodden by the vene- 
rable fiithers of the Reformation in Scotland, and Holland, and Eng- 
land, and afterwards by our pilgrim fathers, who brought the ''light 
of immortality and life," to our western wilderness. With them the 
instruction of youth in the elementary doctrines of rehgion, by cate» 
chising and family visitation, constituted an important part of minis- 
terial labor. It cannot be uninteresting to your readers, nor foreign 
from the nature of your publication, to incorporate the sentiments of 
the revered Flavel, in a sermon which he preached to the Puritans 
after their restoration in 1688. "Prudence," he remarks, " will direct 
us to lay a good foundation among our people by catechising, and in- 
structing them in the principles of Christianity, without which we 
labor in vain. Unless we have a knowing people, wc are not like to 
have a gracious people. All our excellent sermons will be dashed 
on the rock of their ignorance. You can never fall on a better way 
for securing success to your labors, than the fruitful way of catechis- 
ing. What age of the church has produced more hvely and stead- 
fast professors than the firstages ; and then this duty most eminently 
flourished in the church. Clemens, Optatus, Austin, Ambrose and 
Basil, were catechists." Such were the sentiments of this distin- 
guished servant of Christ, delivered on a most memorable occasion^ 
and before an assembly of divines httle inferior to any that ever 
adorned our world. V/ith these observations of Flavel in Old, let us 
compare those of Doctor Mather, a character equally eminent in 
JVei(?, England — "That catechising is an ordinance of God ^ew will 
doubt, when they considsr that apostles thus laid the foundation of 
religion by feeding babes v/ith milk, teaching them in this manner 
the first principles of the oracles of God. This hath therefore been 
a constant practice in the church, and in the first ages of Christianity 
they had a particular person appropriated to this exercise. All well 
governed churches have still maintained this practice, knowing the 



APPENDIX. 303 

necessity of it for youth, to inform them in the principles of that reli- 
gion into which they were baptized, and for the establishment of the 
more a^ed." With these sentiments of the Puritans in the old and 
neio world, correspond the following remarks of the Presbyterians in 
Scotland, as expressed in a preface to the shorter catechism: "It has 
been acknowledged in all ages that the catechetical way of instruc- 
tion is the most speedy and successful method of conveying the know- 
ledge of divine things : the truths of God are thus made level to tho 
weakest capacity, being separately proposed with plain and distinct 
answers to each." 

We cannot appreciate too highly the establishment of Sabbath 
schools and Bible classes. They may be considered as constituting 
some of the brightest features of our distinguished age, and forming 
a new era in the rehgious world. Through the instrumentality of the 
former, many have been raised from the lowest degradation, mental 
and moral, who are now ornaments to the church ; and by means of 
the latter the seed has been sown in ten thousand youthful hearts, 
which will spring up to life eternal ; yet in connection with these I 
wish to see revived that system of catechetical instruction, which pre- 
vailed so extensively among your ancestors in England, and mine in 
Scotland. I wish to see means every where in operation which shall 
secure to the juvenile mind profound instruction in the doctrines of re^ 
ligion. No period since the Apostolic has been adorned with a gene* 
ration of professors more intelligent and steadfast, than during tho 
administrations of Owen, and Flavel, and Baxter, and Boston, and 
the Erskines ; and at that time, catechising in the week was consider- 
ed scarcely less essential to the " fulfilment of the ministry," than 
preaching on the sabbath. A comparison of those who composed 
the ranks of the spiritual soldiery in their day, with those who 
compose them in the present, would certainly, in many respects, 
be much to our disadvantag^e. Nevertheless, there are many of our 
modern converts doubting even the piety of some of those illustrious 
men, although during their lives they shed around them the lustre 
of every Christian grace, and died in the triumphs of faith, and some 
of them martyrs to the truth. With mingled emotions of surprise and 
sorrow, I have heard some in the ministry whp claim to be distin- 
guished for zeal and spirituality, affecting to represent as lifeless and 
even graceless, many of the clergy of that age, who occupied their 
talents in the illustration of divine truth, and " preached the gospel 
with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven," and clad in the pano^ 
ply of God, drove the enemy from the field. I do not pretend that these 
men were perfect, or that the progress of things in coming ages might 



304 APPENDIX. 

not require that with their studious habits there should be joined an 
increased degree of active enterprise ; but I do say that if those who 
regard them so lightly would consent to stand up with them in a 
comparison as it respects solid attainments in literature and theology, 
and holy heroism in their Master's cause, it would be like bringing 
the shrub beside the cedar, or the infant beside the full grown man. 

With respect to extra or protracted meetings, which are becoming 
so common in our country, I entertain no doubt that they have been 
blessed for the conversion of souls to the Saviour. Many, I believe, 
are sealed on these occasions to the day of redemption, and as gems 
will adorn forever the Mediatorial crown of our Master ; yet I think, 
considering the extent to which they are now multiplied, there are 
connected with them serious and obvious disadvantages. They serve 
too often to derange the regular order of the church ; to cherish a 
gossipping disposition on the part of professors, and render them dis- 
satisfied with the ordinances of grace, unless dispensed in an extraor- 
dinary manner. They interfere^ with those duties which ministers 
owe to their immediate charge ; they leave them little time for digest- 
ing their discourses in private, that they may afterwards give to every 
man a portion of meat in due season ; — little leisure for the improve- 
ment of their ministerial gifts, by reading and reflection, and conver- 
sation ; and whatever diverts the attention of the spiritual steward 
from a course of study, although it may promise immediate advan- 
tage, must, in the issue, mihtate essentially against the interests of 
religion. There is no injunction of the great Apostle more impera- 
tive than the following : — " Give attendance to reading ; neglect not 
the gift that is in thee ; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting 
may'appear unto all." Without suitable preparation in the week, 
Ho uninspired man ever did, or can preach the gospel for any consi- 
derable time to the same people, either with acceptance or success ; 
and he cannot make this preparation without suitable opportunity. 
Did he possess the intellectual resources of an angel, they must be 
exhausted by continual expenditure, unless they are replenished by 
painful and laborious apphcation to study. The present, perhaps, 
more than almost any preceding age, calls for active exertion on the 
part of the clergy. Our Tract, and Missionary, and Bible and other 
kindred societies are probably the means by which the gospel is uni- 
versally to be diffused, and the nations converted to the Saviour ; and 
in the support of these and every other benevolent enterprise, the 
ministers of religion ought always to appear prominent. It ib, how- 
ever, incumbent upon us to persevere, as much as possible, in habits 



APPEiNfDIX. 305 

of study, and thus improve those spiritual gifts which are" requisite for 
the profitable discharge of our ministry. 

But- the great, shall I say the fatal error in the management of revi- 
vals, is the hasty admission of the subject to the privileges of the 
church. Convictions, v^^e have reason to apprehend, are often mis- 
taken for conversion ; — a momentary impulse for " the renewing of 
the Holy Ghost," without which no man can see the Lord Under 
the influence of this excitement, application is made for the seals of 
the covenant ; and when an unregenerate man obtains a name in the 
visible church, his condition may be considered as almost desperate : 
he feels entrenched in his profession, and without a moral miracle, is 
invulnerable; there is more hope of reaching with the arrow of con- 
viction, the conscience of the " harlot or the pubhcan," than the con- 
science of the formal professor. There is an analogy in all the works 
of Jehovah, and the iiicorruptihle seed, like the nattiral, requires time 
to vegetate in the soil, before it can be expected to spring up, and 
present " the blade and the ear." 

Having taken this deliberate survey of the subject presented for 
consideration, and noted some points of difference between the past 
and the present, I am constrained to express my conviction, that how- 
ever much we have to be grateful for in the present state of the church, 
there is much that needs to be corrected ; and that e\ en pure revivals 
of religion would be far more prevalent, if we were wilHng, in some 
respect at least, to walk more closely in the footsteps of our revered 
fathers. Let the true doctrines of the gospel be held up with great 
prominence ; and let the minds of the young, by catechetical instruc- 
tion and private visitation, be imbued with the knowledge of God's 
word ; and our spiritual heritage, under the dews of divine grace, 
would appear " fair as Eden," and the trees of righteousness would 
present in due season their fragrant blossoms and ripening fruits. 
But when I see the wanton, visionary speculations indulged by some, 
to the neglect of a rehgion founded on the Bible, and the open dere- 
liction and even renunciation of their standards by others, who had 
solemnly subscribed and sworn to defend them ; when I see these 
appalling facts, I cannot help trembling for the Ark. May the God 
of our fathers disappoint our fears, and purify our American Zion,and 
fill the earth with his glory. 

Yours, in the Saviour's love, 

ALEXANDER PROUDFIT. 
Rev, W. B. Sprague, D. D. 

29 



LETTER XI. 

Prom the REVEREND CHARLES P. McILVAlNE, 
Rector of St. Anne's church, Brooklyn, New York. 

Brooklyn^ Apni 6, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

I was much pleased to hear of your intention to publish on the sub- 
ject of the revivals of religion in this country ; beHeving that there is 
not another on which a well digested, discreet, intelligent and spiritu- 
ally-minded work is, at this period, so much needed. We need it at 
home — it is earnestly desired abroad. When I was in London, about 
eighteen months since, among sundry earnest inquiriesif, as well 
rom ministers of the established church, as those of dissenting deno- 
minations, requesting direction as to some publication to inform them 
accurately in respect to the nature, means and fruits of revivals of 
religion among us ; I recollect a conversation with the Rev. Josiah 
Pratt, (well known as author of the Memoir, and editor of the Works 
of the excellent Cecil,) in which, after expressing a stronor desire that 
Christians in England should know more on this subject, he twice, 
and with much solemnity of manner, enjoined it upon me that I 
should endeavor to prepare a work in regard to it, and send it to Eng- 
land for publication. I rejoice that the undertaking has fallen into 
hands so much more qualified, in every sense, to do it justice. I 
pray, and doubtless you have made it a matter of much prayer, that 
all you write may be according to the mind of Christ, and under the 
sanctification of the Holy Spirit, so as to be " profitable for doctrine, 
reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness." 

I understand you as requesting of me a brief expression of such 
hints in relation to revivals, as my experience in them may have sug- 
gested, and my time will permit me to write. This I will attempt 
most cheerfully ; but must perform it with the strictest confinement 
of my pen to the mere giving of hints. 

My experience of revivals has not been so extensive as that.of 
many others ; but it has been, more than that of many others, among 



APPENDIX. 307 

young men of education and force of character. It has been my lot to 
witness the power of the Spirit in circumstances peculiarly unpropi- 
tious ; overcoming obstacles of the most formidable kind, and effect- 
ing-, in spite of them, conversions of a nature specially distinguished 
by the decision, force and consistency of Christian character, which 
they have since exhibited. But I have not time for preUminaries. 

^s to what a revival of religion is, and what its great objects ought to 
be — I would suggest that the public mind, (I mean of Christians,) is 
in danger of overlooking, or only slightly regarding one out of the 
two great constituents and blessings of a genuine revival. One of 
these is ^he conversion of sinners. But it is not the only object ; 
though too much treated as if it were. The other is the quickening 
of the people of God to a spirit and walk heeoming the gospel. Where 
this is not sought and obtained, the revival is more than suspicious. 
But I fear that, where it is sought, it is sometimes desired much more 
as a necessary means to the accomplishment of the other, than as a 
most important end in itself, v/hich alone is unspeakably precious, 
and must be productive of all good fruits. If the quickening of the 
souls of God's people to liveliness of life be regarded rather as a 
means to the bringing about of a resurrection among the dead in 
sins, than as a great end in itself; the consequence will be, as expe- 
rience proves, that their increase of life will be confined very much to 
those efforts which bring them before the view, and into direct opera- 
tions on the feelings of the impenitent, such as the leading and at- 
tending of public and other meetings for prayer and exhortation, in- 
stead of being, first and last, an improvement of their hearts in all 
the inward things of the Spirit of God, elevating, purifying, adorn- 
ing, invigorating the whole Christian character. 

As to the means of obtaining a revival of religion in a congregation — I 
need not say that the faithful, plain, direct preaching of the truth is 
one of these means. But is there not danger of putting reliance on 
this or that mode of saying things ; this or that selection of topics or 
management of an address, because in some place, or in the hands 
of some men they are supposed to have been very successful, when 
at best they may be pecuUarly suitable only in peculiar cases, or when 
used by pecuUar persons ? Is there not danger of our getting to rely 
on a Paul or Apollos, and supposing that a revival can hardly take 
place and flourish unless they, or some persons very much like them, 
in manner, are at the head of the effort? Would not such a reUance 
be altogether inconsistent with a simple dependence upon the sword 
of the Spirit, and the demonstration of the Spirit, as placed at the dis- 



308 APPENDIX, 

posal of every minister of the word who will know nothing among 
men but Jesus Christ and him crucified ? Do we not need to think 
and feel much more of this truth, that the power of preaching is not 
to be improved so much by seeking out new and more striking modes 
and expressions, as by combining our discourses with more prayer in 
their preparation, and more faith in the power of God while dehver- 
ing them ? 

I need not urge that combined and earnest prayer is another of the 
means of obtaining a revival. But it is needful to urge that there is 
a tendency to make this too exclusively a matter of the prayer-meei- , 
ing, and that in the prayer- meeting, there is a proneness to pray an 
address to the people, more than to God, seeking more to produce an 
effect than to obtain an answer. The chief power of prayer for a re- 
vival of the work of God must be sought where effect cannot tempt, 
and where genuine revivals always begin, — in the closet. Let people 
be assembled for prayer ; but let the chief concert be the daily union 
of hearts, each in secret, wrestling with God. 

But there is another important means of having religion revived. 
Some legitimate, sober effort to create a general disposition to attend to the 
tuord, is very important. One great reason why the word is not more 
blessed lies in the fact that it is so little heard — not only among those 
who do not assemble where it is preached, but those also, even pro- 
fessors of religion, who sit beneath its sound. We need something, 
to open the ears of those who come to hear, and to congregate those 
who are too indifferent to come. Much depends on this. But here 
is where experience utters its most serious cautions. It is in the coun- 
cil of the Sons of God, upon such measures, that Satan puts on the 
dress of hght, and too often gets himself appointed on "the commit- 
tee of ways and means.*' - There are means to be used, in awaken- 
ing a disposition to come and see and hear, which truth and sober- , 
ness, scripture and good sense, fully warrant. These I doubt not you 
have discussed. But how easily may zeal, having a little more ex- 
citement than discretion and conscience, overstep the boundaries of 
sobriety and truth, and not only revive intemperance instead of piety, 
but bring back the old contrivances of ^^ pious frauds.'^'* I think there 
is hardly any matter connected with revivals that need s more guard- 
ing than this. Great scandal has been raised by indiscretion, and 
what I cannot call by any lighter name than fraud on the 'part of 
some seekers of a revival. The agency of the Holy Spirit as the be- 
ginning and ending has been almost or entirely set aside. A revival 
has been represented and sought for as an article of manufacture, for 



APPENDIX. 309 

which you have only to set the machinery and raise the steam of ex- 
citement, caring little with what fuel, and converts will be made to 
hand. Artifices to catch attention ; devices to entrap the careless ; 
representations to create impression; an exaggerated style of preach- 
ing to produce alarm ; to shake suspicious hopes and raise a state of 
general excitement, no mattex of what kind, so that it brings people 
to hear, have in some cases been put into requisition, over which 
truth, and reverence, and humility, and faith must weep, and which 
have done more to injure revivals in certain places, than all the direct 
opposition of coldness and unbelief. When the world and slumber- 
ing Christians see these things, it is not strange that they should 
speak against revivals. Blessed be God, these things are not charac- 
teristic of revivals of religion, but only of some minds associated with 
the name. In the great majority of what have been called by this 
name, they have not appeared, or have been only very partial excep- 
tions to the general rule. But in proportion as a revival spirit shall 
spread in the churches, will the danger of these mischiefs increase 
The very excellence of the cause will be its exposure to the abuse of 
unbalanced zeal and to the devices of Satan. There was a great 
work in Samaria, under the preaching of Philip. Simon Magus was 
a spurious convert of that revival. He turned in with the heart of a 
sorcerer, under the face of a Christian, and wanted to help the work 
by imitating the wonders of the Apostles. But he thought the gift 
of God could be purchased with money. He wanted to beivitch the 
people, instead of enlightening them. He supposed the apostles 
had some magic secret in communicating the Holy Ghost, which per- 
haps they might be induced to reveal, so as to enable him to go about 
and do great things as well as they. Is this character never seen 
among genuine revivals of the present day ? I fear Satan still finds 
those who give themselves out to be some great ones ; and v/ho, pass- 
ing by the great truth that it is the Spirit who is to convince of sin 
and of righteousness and of judgment, attempt the work of a revival 
as if there were a magic secret in certain modes and artifices, and 
expect to change stubborn hearts by bewitching weak heads. No. 
The Apostles had no device but that of plain truth, and strong faith, 
and humble boldness, and fervent love. Let us be content with 
these. Let it be written of us as of them — " We believe^ and therefore 
speakJ*^ Our weapons will be " mighty through God," only in pro- 
portion as they are ^^not carnal but spiritual.'''' Let us get the ear of 
sinners by the zeal of truth and soberness, and then fill it with Jesua 
Christ and him crucified. 

29* 



310 APPENDIX. 

And now supposing a general revival is in progress, and much in- 
terest prevails in the community, and inquirers come in and some 
profess to have obtained the hope of faith — let me suggest that it is 
not sufficiently remembered that a time of great blessing is also a time 
of great exposure. When an individual Christian is on the mount, we 
think him specially in need of caution, lest he be lifted up above mea- 
sure. Paul needed a thorn to keep him humble, after his abundant 
manifestations. Thus a church revived, and rejoicing, and full of 
zeal, must take especial heed, lest the sails be too much for the bal- 
last, and while the hands are all ahead dehghting their eyes withihe 
power of her advance, the spirit of evil should get up behind and 
take the helm, andgSecretly substitute another needle than that of the 
truth as it in Jesus. 

A time of revival is necessarily to some extent, a time of excite- 
ment. But excitement is of two kinds. One is that of the soul re- 
ceiving nourishment from the meat of the word, which quickens its 
affections, strengthens its desires after hohness, and promotes a 
healthy state of spiritual life. This is the genuine excitement of a 
revival of religion. But there is another resembling it very deceit- 
fully in color and temporary sensation, but differing from it very 
widely in permanent consequences. It is the fever of the mind, to 
which human nature is exceedingly prone. Some of it is probably 
unavoidable in revivals, because revivals have to do with a diseased 
nature ; as powerful medicines, while working together for the good 
of the body, produce a feverish excitement, not by their own fault, 
but the morbid condition of the patient. But how unwisely would a 
physician act, should he mistake the hectic of the fever for the glow 
of health, and endeavor to increase it because accompanied with 
warmth and apparent strength! Dehrium and prostration would 
ensue. This is precisely the mistake not unfrequently made by 
friends of revivals. It is extremely dangerous. They mistake dis- 
ease for health. They seek excitement. It is well. ' The dead 
heart must be excited. But let them be cautious. There is an ex- 
citement which, like that of electricity upon a corpse, will open the 
eyes, but they will not see ; stir the heart, but it will not love j throw 
the whole body into violent action, only to remain when the machi- 
nery is withdrawn, a more melancholy spectacle of death than before. 
Excitement that does not proceed from the influence of truth on the 
heart, and lead towards the obedience of truth in the life, is the fever 
of a diseased soul, and not the evidence of increasing life. To stim- 
ulate this is as much to hinder grace, as if you should attempt to 



ArPENDIX. 311 

make a dying man well by filling him with alcohol. The fever may 
look and act exceedingly like healthy religion — but it will either 
mount at last to wild derangement, or pass off and leave the subjects 
more perfectly prostrate and helpless than ever. I conceive that clear 
conceptions of the nature and genuine means of real, spiritual excite- 
ment, as distinguished from every counterfeit, are much needed, in 
order that revivals may be protected against tlie weakness of the 
flesh, and the forgeries of Satan. 

Now let me again suppose a revival in progress. In consequence 
of the ignorance, inexperience, sinfulness, indiscretion of the promis- 
cuous mass of minds and hearts concerned in it, we must expect more 
or less of diseased excitement, though the work be full of holy fruits. 
The labor of the minister is to protect the good work, as much as pos- 
sible, from abuses to which it is liable from this cause. Let me there- 
fore suggest that] a season of revival is one in which special care 
should be had in the regular keeping up of all the rules of the church. Old 
modes of doing things are apt to seem worn out, and'decrepid, and 
dry, to minds under new excitement. A sudden flood in the river not 
unfrequently opens new channels, but never without desolation. 
Let the springs of the river of life be revived and swollen with the 
rain of heaven ; but that the streams thereof may make glad the city 
of God, let them be kept within the banks which the ordinances of the 
gospel have established, and the wisdom of all ages has been content 
with. Let the novelty consist in newness of life, in an unwonted 
spirit of prayer, and faith, and love, rather than in new devices and 
novel modes. 

Hoiofar should meetings be multiplied during a revival ? — This ques- 
tion must be answered according to circumstances, but requires much 
wisdom. The appetite of excitement is for meetings. The tendency 
of an animated minister is to feed it with meetings. How far may he 
go ? Not beyond his own strength in their vigilant superintendence. 
He must have meetings enough to be able to meet and feed the peo- 
ple with as much bread as they can profitably receive ; but the dan- 
gers to be guarded against are in the idea that the love of meetings 
is religion ; that the chief element and nutriment of religion in the 
heart is the influence of meetings; that the frequent renewal of their 
excitements may be substituted for habitual watchfulness and dili- 
gence ; that secret devotion and the study of the word are of com- 
paratively little importance ; that when circumstances require an 
abridgment of the number of the meetings, the revival is done, a sea- 
son of coldness must ensue, and the people may be content to wait in 



312 APPETJDIX. 

sloth and extmustion till the next season of the outpouring of the 
spirit. Whoever has seen much of man and of revivals, must know 
that on these points, much wisdom and much firmness are required. 

Who shall officiate in the meetings ? — Some seem to imagine that any- 
body with a warm heart will do to speak and pray in public during a 
season of revival. On the contrary, it is just the time when the work 
of exhortation and leading in meetings for prayer should be confined 
to the steadiest heads. A raw hand may steer the ship with a gentle, 
fair breeze, in open sea ; but when the wind is high, and the channel 
narrow, and false lights abound, and new lights are ever appearing, 
let experience alone be entrusted with the helm. Many of the abuses 
of revivals have arisen from a multiplication of meetings beyond the 
ability of the minister and his most experienced assistants to super- 
intend them ; so as to call up persons having more'zeal than know- 
ledge to the lead, sometimes to the misguiding of the young, and the 
indiscreet offending of many. 

Hoiv should inquirers be treated ? — With light as well as heat ; with 
instruction as to the way ; its cost ; its temptations, &c., as well as 
exhortation to walk therein. Bunyan put the wicket gate too far off, 
and made a Slough of Despond too directly in the road. Many do 
worse, saying nothing of any difficulties to be avoided, and leaving out 
the entire dependence of the sinner on the Spirit of God to be able to 
reach the straight gate. 

Let care be used as to luho shall be put to the work of conversing xoith 
inquirers. Every Christian is not fit for this work in a time of excite- 
ment. Especially new converts are not fit. They have not learned 
sufficiently to separate the wheat from the chaff. They often con- 
found feelings with affections ; fears with desires ; and require an ex- 
perience like their own, rather than like the rule of the word. They 
are apt to " compare themselves among themselves," and encourage 
too soon, or expect too much ; so that sometimes they break the 
bruised reed and quench the smoking flax. 

Inquiry meetings have, I believe, been much perverted from their 
original object. The great use of an inquiry meeting is to enable the 
minister to converse with those whom it would be better to see more 
privately, but who are too numerous to allow his seeing all of them 
often enough at their separate houses. It should be strictly an op- 
portunity for him to inquire of them, and they of him. But this im- 
portant object is often nulUfied, and the meeting rendered an entire 
misnomer, in consequence of numbers. It is so large that to make 
any real inquiry into each case is impossible, unless many agents are 



APPENDIX, 313 

employed, and then a painful and deleterious publicity is given to the 
inquiry and the answer. An inquiry meeting should be a retired 
meeting, involving as little exposure to others beside the conductor, 
and as httle profession of religion as the object may allow ; if the 
number desiring to attend be greater than can be profitably and in- 
dividually conversed with, there should be more meetings than one. 
The object should be to get as much as possible of the individuality 
of a quiet conference from house to house, and yet effect an important 
saving of time and strength. I much fear that instead of this, there 
have been meetings under this name, in which inquiry was a very 
secondary matter on the part of the conductors, and the fanning of 
excitement and the inducing of those who felt a little, to com^nit them- 
selves, in other words, to make some profession, were the engrossing 
objects. 

I have dreaded much from perceiving an inordinate disposition in 
some friends of revivals to get inquirers io ^' entertain a /zojoe," as if 
hope were always the offspring of a living faith. New minds very 
naturally acquire the idea that if they can only get comfort they shall 
do well. They thirst for hope more than holiness. The work seems- 
done when consolation begins. By and by when tribulation ariseth, 
they are offended. The phraseology of revivals needs reform. The 
tendency of much of it at present is to set the sinner to seeking hope 
and joy rather than faith and iove. Deliberation with hearts which 
by nature are " deceitful above all things," is of great moment at all 
times, and especially in a season when, however good the work, Satan 
finds so many means of producing hurry, and confusion, and pre- 
sumptuous hope. 

Is there not much evil to be apprehended from the plan of having a 
meeting restricted to those " ivho have obtained a hope'"' — another for 
inquirers merely, so that as soon as one of the latter expresses a hope 
that he has found peace, he is passed into the company of the former, 
and is henceforth numbered wdth those who profess to be in Christ ? 
Does not the commonest acquaintance with human nature ; the well 
known infirmity of the infant state of a new convert, and all experi- 
ence warn us, that by such measures we are tempting the weakness 
of incipient seriousness to seek a hope for other motives, and cherish 
it on other grounds, than those of the Spirit of God ? The inquiry 
meeting is very naturally regarded as the lowest degree — the other a 
second and more honorable. A hope will elevate the candidate from 
the novitiate to the grade of the initiated. Vanity and love of distinc- 
tion are not dead in the hearts of inquirers. How insidiously and 



314 APPENDIX. 

easily may they animate the candidate to think well of his evidences 
and blind his eyes to their suspicious aspects, that he may be said to 
entertain a hope, and may be introduced among those who are re- 
joiced over as converts rejoicing in Christ. That hope is often helped 
exceedingly by this address to human weakness, there is great reason 
to fear. But let it be considered that when an inquirer is thus passed 
into the company of those who profess a hope of salvation ; or when 
he is induced to Ftand up in a more promiscuous assembly, as having 
found peace through faith, it is on his part a public profession of reli- 
gion; those who encourage him to do so are regarded as having set 
their seal to his evidences and pronounced them good. It is nothing to 
say that he has not yet approached the Lord's supper. There is 
more than one way of making a public profession of religion. Christ- 
ians and the world consider the individual described as having openly 
called himself a Christian. But is it not too soon for such a profes- 
sion? Has he had sufficient time; has he obtained sufficient know- 
ledge to search and try his heart? Is not the consideration that he is 
regarded as having publicly professed a hope, a dangerous motive to 
go on in hope without that cautious self-examination which the new- 
ness of his spiritual state demands? Is it not thus that too many, after 
having crossed the line of profession, and feeling themselves commit- 
ted to the entertaining of hope, continue crying peace, peace, after 
every thing but the form of godliness, and the melancholy features of 
spiritual pride, has passed away ? But do we not bring the cause of 
religion and the character of revivals into great disrepute by such 
measures ? When a number of newly awakened persons rise up in 
a public assembly, or appear in a special meeting as professing a 
hope of being in Christ, they are noted as professors of religion by tlie 
world. We can neither correct the view taken by worldly people of 
this public appearance, nor find fault with it. But can it be expected 
that some of these, so new, so untried, will not fall back ? Are we 
prepared to set them out before the world as converts to whose stead- 
fastness we challenge the attention of the ungodly ? On the con- 
trary, we expect that some, by and by, will be offended and go back, 
before they shall have come to a meetness for the supper of the Lord. 
But when this takes place, it is necessarily regarded as the backslid- 
ing, not of inquirers — not of persons merely under serious impres- 
sions ; (we cannot expect the world to distinguish carefully between 
a profession of serious concern about religion and of religion itself) 
but as the backshding of persons who have once called themselves 
ChristianSj and on whom the judgment of experienced Christians did 



APPENDIX. 31g 

once set the seal of deliberate approbation. Thus " it is impossible 
but that offences come." But let us take heed by whom or how they 
come. Some publicity to the fact that an inquirer has been enabled 
to hope in Christ is unavoidable ; when judiciously managed, it is 
useful : but the individual should not be the instrument of making his 
spiritual state a matter of publicity, and should have his mind as free 
as possible from the idea that he is in any sense before the commu- 
nity, until he has Had time to get somewhat beyond the extreme 
delicacy of a babe in Christ. Religion, in a sinner's heart, is like a 
tropical plant amidst the snows of Siberia. Great protection and ten- 
derness, and a cautious attention to cherishing temperature are of the 
last importance, till it is acclimated. It may remain, but not grow. 
It may shoot out a sudden growth of half formed leaves, while dying 
at the root. 

These remarks apply with more force to the dangerous practice (I 
hope very limited in extent) of encouraging those who profess conver- 
sion, to come forward, almost immediately, to the table of the Lord. 
The ambition of numbering the people ; the desire of an exciting 
spectacle may adopt this plan. Shallow views of religion and of hu- 
man nature may approve of it. Satan will subscribe to its wisdom in 
the signature of an angel of light. The winnowing of the last day 
will show that a large portion of such ingatherings was fit only to be 
cast into the fire, to be burned. 

I have already written so much more than I anticipated, when I be- 
gan, that I have no room to dwell upon two points of great in- 
terest in themselves, and rendered especially so by the present times. 
One is the measure ofprorainence and work that may safely and usefully 
be given to new converts. The other is the necessity of seeing to them 
vigilantly J " proving, rebuking, exhorting themj''' while as yet they are 
new, inexperienced and self-ignorant. As to the first, wisdom is 
greatly needed. We ought not to take a green sapling and set it up 
for a pillar in the church. The weight would bend it down and make 
its branches grow into the earth. We ought not to take a new re- 
cruit, untried, undisciplined, however zealous and brave, and set him 
to drill a company, or lead the advance, when skill and coolness, as 
well as enthusiasm and courage, are the order of the day. By such 
measures we may engender much boldness w^ith great indiscre- 
tion, and show an undaunted front with a flank exposed to all the 
fiery darts of the wicked. How to give the new convert enough ex- 
ercise for his own health and growth without taking him too much 
from himself, laying too much upon his weakness, and exposing him 



316 APPENDIX. 

too much to the snares of vanity, spiritual pride and censoriousness, 
is a question which I hope your book will well determine, 

I must now conclude. The dangers and cautions I have suggest- 
ed, arise out of the power and eminent value of the spirit of genuine 
revivals. I owe too much of what I hope for as a Christian, and what 
I have been blessed with as a Minister of the Gospel, not to think 
most highly of the eminent importance of promoting this spirit, and 
consequently of guarding it against all abuses. Whatever I possess 
of religion began in a revival. The most precious, steadfast and 
vigorous fruits of my ministry have been the fruits of revivals. I be- 
lieve that the spirit of revivals, in the true sense, was the simple spirit 
of the religion of apostolic times, and will be, more and more, the 
characteristic of these times, as the day of the Lord draws near. 
May the Lord bless us with it more abundantly and purely, and use 
your work eminently in its promotion. 

I remain, very truly and affectionately. 
Yours, &c., 

CHARLES P. McILVAINE. ^ 
Rev. W. B. Sprague. 



LETTER XII. 

From the REVEREND WILLIAM NEILL, D. D, 

Late President of Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 

Germantoion, April 6, 1832, 
My Dear Sir, 

I am pleased to find that you are about to publish a course of lec- 
tures on Revivals of religion. The subject, always interesting to Christ- 
ians, has become peculiarly so, of late, by reason of the frequency and 
power of those precious refreshings from the Lord ; and, also, because 
of the extraordinary means employed, in some instances, to promote 
and perpetuate them. The views of some of the clerical brethren, of 
several denominations, which you are endeavoring to collect, may form 
a useful appendix to yourwork. In contributing an expression of good 
will tovv^ards this latter object, my words shall be few ; and it is my 
prayer, that they may be well ordered, and in keeping with the law 
and the testimony. 

A revival of true religion is a blessing of no ordinary import ; and, 
if every good and perfect gift cometh down from the father of lights, 
then, clearly, a genuine revival is from the same divine source. "Paul 
plants and ApoUos waters ; but God gives the increase." " Sanctify 
them through thy truth,- thy word is truth," saith the Redeemer^ 
. From these two passages of holy writ, not to mention others, we may 
r say — nay, I must beheve we are bound to acknowledge, that of every 
true revival, God is the efficient cause; and his revealed will, with his 
instituted ordinances, the chosen instruments. I know, indeed, that 
men are under obligation immediately to repent and turn to God ; and 
I also know, that when God works in the soul, disposing it to will and 
to do his good pleasure, he calls its faculties into vigorous action ; so 
that the divine influence, in no respect, infringes man's moral agency. 
To attend to the truth — to believe the gospel — to repent after a godly 
sort — to love God, and obey his commands, and lay hold on eternal 
life, are duties incumbent on every man j and, when performed, are 

30 



318 APPENDIX. 

acts or exercises of his^own mind: but it is the Spirit of God, in view 
of the word of precept and promise, that moves and enables him to put 
forth these mental efforts, in a spiritual and acceptable manner. 

When I say that the word and instituted ordinances of the gospel, 
are the instruments designed of God to be used in producing and pro- 
moting revivals, I mean to be understood as disapproving of all means 
and measures, intended to advance the cause of rehgion, which are 
not sanctioned by the example of Christ and the Apostles, or which 
are not warranted by the discipline of God's house, as laid down in 
his Holy Bible. In judging thus, I do not impugn the motives, or 
undervalue the zeal and labors of those brethren in the ministry, 
who employ expedients in their efforts to bring sinners to Christ, 
which I deem unwarrantable. When we dare reminded of the effects 
produced in connection with the use of some such means, as are al- 
luded to above, the question arises — whether results equally good, 
and extensive, and permanent, would not have been experienced, with- 
outthe use of any questionable means ? The means of salvation which 
God has prescribed in his word, are the best ; and it is a reflection on 
his wisdom and goodness, to suppose that they need any additions or 
modifications of ours. Human devices, however ingenious and well- 
meant, and however they may have the effect of producing strong excite- 
ment, for a time, will, in the long run, be found fraught with mischief 
to the truth ; and to that decency and order which Christ has estab- 
hshed in his kingdom. 

Allow me, here, to mention a few particulars, connected with some 
of the revivals, of which we have read in the religious papers, that I 
cannot but regard as evils, or, at least, of evil tendency. 

1. That style of preaching, which, while it aims to make the impen- 
itent sinner feel his blame-worthiness, tends indirectly, to cherish the 
idea that it is an easy thing to become a Christian, and that he can 
give his heart to God whenever he sees fit so to do, independently of 
a divine influence. Let him take up this idea, and he will feel easy, 
and be very apt to postpone repentance, till he shall have enjoyed the 
pleasures of sin for a season. 

2. The use of anxious seats, and putting the people to the test of a 
public vote, under the influence of strong feeling. Have ministers a 
right to propose this measure? Is it not embarrassing to the humble? 
Does it not foster forwardness and self-confidence in those who have 
not yet learned what spirit they are of? 

3. Public confessions of sins, in the face of promiscuous assemblies 
This practice in my view, is based on a misinterpretation or wrong use 



APPENDIX. 319 

of a scriptural precept — " confess your faults one to another" — that is, 
in private, or in the presence of a few select Christian friends. When 
done in public, it looks like aiming at effect; gives occasion of re- 
proach to the enemies of religion, &c. We should avoid all appear- 
ance of evil. 

4. Calling upon zealous but unauthorized persons to perform the 
appropriate duties of ordained ministers. This is calculated to bring 
the ministry into contempt, and to inflict upon the church a host of 
self-commissioned and unqualified teachers. 

5. Hasty admissions to the communion, of very young persons, or 
of those vi^ho have given but little proof of their knowledge of the gos- 
pel, or of their having experienced a gracious change of heart. The 
good seed often falls on stony ground, where there is not much depth 
of earth. A reasonable time of probation seems expedient if not demand- 
ed, by a proper regard for the persons admitted, and for the peace and 
purity of the church. 

6. A neglect of ministers of the gospel, who are not considered 
thorough-going revival men. I honor an intelligent and zealous 
preacher, whose services God has honored, in promoting revivals ; 
but I also hold in reputation the man, whose ministrations are 
serious and of an evangelical strain, though they may never have 
been strongly marked, by what are commonly called revivals. There 
is a diversity of gifts, under the guidance and hallowing influence 
of the same Spirit. In some revivals, I fear, a minister, not distin- 
guished as a revival man, and an advocate of strong, decisive measures, 
would hardly be invited to preach, lest he should come with an extin- 
guisher in his doctrine or manner. In my humble judgment, these 
things ought not so to be. 

How far the foregoing remarks will meet your view^s. Dear Brother, 
I know not. They have been made freely ; but without any unkind 
or uncharitable feelings towards those who differ from me in opinion. 
They are submitted to your disposal ; with my best wishes and ear- 
nest prayers, that your forthcoming work may prove a blessing to the 
cause of revivals, and be owned of God in advancing the kingdom and 
glory of our dear Redeemer. 

Your fellow servant in the Gospel, 

WILLIAM NEILL, 
Ekv. W. B. Sprague, D, D. 



LETTER XIII. 

From the REVEREND PHILIP MILLEDOLER, D. D. 

President of Rutgers' College, New Brunswick, New Jersey. 

J^eio Brunswick J ^pril 3, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

Your esteemed favor of March 12th has been duly received. The 
apphcation made in it needs no apology. It involves a subject of deep 
interest to the whole church of God. Viewing it in this light I feel no 
reluctance in attempting to comply with your request. 

The phrase "revival of religion" has respect to two sorts of per- 
sons : — 1. To those who are awakened from a state of spiritual death 
to a state of spiritual life ; and, 2. To those who being thus awaken- 
ed, are reanimated after seasons of depression, by a renewed and 
divine unction and impulse. Both these operations are recognized in 
the sacred scriptures; and both are attributed to the Holy Spirit. 
Hence those who are born again are said to be born of the Spirit ; and 
times of reviving or refreshing are every where attributed to him as 
their undoubted author. 

This influence of the Spirit is exhibited under various symbols or 
emblems : For example, under the emblem of the rain. Hence it is 
predicted of M essiah, that " he should come down as rain upon the 
mown grass, as showers that water the earth."* Under the emblem of 
fire — " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."f Also 
under the emblem of the wind — " The wind bloweth where it listeth, 
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh 
and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of the Spirit.^" The 
movements of this element are, as we know, exceedingly diversified. 
It sometimes gently breathes upon, and at others moves with tremen- 
dous and resistless power over the face of the earth. In both cases, it 
is unseen : in neither case, unfelt. Its operations are, indeed, every 
where perceptible, whilst the laws by which it is governed are, in many 
respects, deeply mysterious. The prophet in his vision of the valley 
of dry bones, was commanded to prophesy to the wind. He did so, 

* Ps. Ixxii 6. t Luke, iii. 10, | John, iij. 8c 



APPENDIX. 32i 

and the wonderful result was not merely the symbol of a political, but 
also of a spiritual, and even of a physical resurrection at the last day.* 

That human experience accords with this scriptural account of the 
works of the Spirit there can be no doubt. For, 1. We have almost 
numberless instances of a resurrection from a death of sin to a life of 
righteousness. 2. There are many examples recorded in scripture 
of the ebbing and flowing of the tide of spiritual influence : or, in other 
words, of the communication and comparative withdrawment of that 
influence both from individuals and from churches. The alternations 
of hope and fear thereby produced are strikingly exhibited in the expe- 
rience of David, of Job, of the Apostle Paul, of the Asiatic churches, 
and of many churches both of Europe and America in our own day. 
And are we not authorized to infer that the changes experienced in this 
respect by individuals, may occur on a larger scale j that is, in families, 
churches, districts of country, and whole nations? 

Now if this view be correct, it is strange that the reality of revivals 
should be called in question, and especially by those who read the 
Bible, are acquainted with church history, or have any knowledge 
whatever of the ordinary or extraordinary operations of the Spirit of 
God upon the soul. 

I have witnessed two revivals during my own ministry. The flrst 
occurred between the years 1800 and 1805, whilst I was officiating as 
pastor of the Pine-street church, Philadelphia. The second between 
the years 1807 and 1812, whilst officiating as pastor of the Rutgers 
street church. New York. The former continued more than eighteen 
months ; the latter three years. Both occurred under the regular ad- 
ministration of the Word and Sacraments. Large additions were 
made during their continuance to the communion of those churches. 
The church in Rutgers street grew in a few years from somewhere 
about eighty to upwards of seven hundred communicating members. 
This work was connected with no extra means, except an additional 
weekly lecture or prayer meeting. It was attended with no extrava- 
gant demonstrations of any description whatever ; but with much 
apparent humility, with Christian aflTection, and there is reason to be- 
lieve, also, with much searching of heart, and of the Holy Scriptures. 
Of those admitted to full communion at that time, few, if any, are known 
to have apostatized. I do not myself recollect a single instance of 
apostacy. That which was witnessed in the cases above mentioned, 
has occurred in various parts of our country. 

* Ezekiel xxxvii. 

30* 



322 APPENDIX. 

That revivals of religion are extraordinary operations, is admitted 
on all hands. That as such they must endure the ordeal of God and 
man is inevitable. If so, it appears to be desirable that there should 
be some criterion by which we may form a proper estimate of their 
character. The only safe rule that has occurred to me in forming 
such an estimate is the following, viz : That if the means used to 
obtain them are scriptural, and their fruits wholesome and permanent, 
we are authorized to conclude that they are of heavenly, origin, or, in 
other words, that they are not the work of man, but of God. 

If revivals of religion then, may, and do occur, and are so exceed- 
ingly important to the church, is it to be wondered at, if the enemy 
of God and man should assume the disguise of an angel of Ught, and 
should audaciously mimic or counterfeit God's glorious work, to an- 
swer his own evil purposes? 

I can easily conceive of at least four objects to be answered by him 
in making the attempt, viz : 

1. To draw off the attention of Christians from a work in which he 
is very actively engaged, at the present day — that of suppressing 
God's truth, or of sowing the tares of false doctrine among the wheat 
in the churches. 

2. To induce a presumptuous reliance on a self-determining will 
and power to be all, and to do all, that God requires : thus leading 
men to question their dependence on the Holy Spirit — to usurp his 
office — eventually to deny his work and influence — and what will 
inevitably follow, his eternal Godhead. 

3. To seduce into all manner of extravagance, that the whole work 
of revivals may thereby be brought into disrepute. And as men are 
prone to vibrate from one extreme to another, the enemy may design 
also, 

4. To open a door for the introduction of all manner of scepticism, or ' 
at least, for what is called rational rehgion, or cold-blooded Socinianism. 

From a careful examination of certain views and measures recently 
adopted in relation to revivals, I am induced to apprehend, 

1. That a mere excitement of animal passions, or at most an 
indefinite conviction of sin, is, in many instances, mistaken for 
conversion. 

2. That the subjects of these exercises are not unfrequently hurried 
into the communion of the church, before they have had time to ac- 
quire, either a competent knowledge of themselves, or of the person, 
offices, and benefits of Christ. 

I am aware that apostolical example is offered as a plea for this 



APPENDIX. 323 

hurried operation. But it appears to me that the two cases are ex- 
tremely dissimilar. To mention no other point of difference — the 
persons who embraced Christianity at that period, did so, in opposition 
to all their former prejudices and habits, and at the sacrifice of all 
their worldly comforts and prospects. It is not so at the present day. 
Unless ministers and ruling elders therefore will run the risk of filling 
the church with mere nominal professors, at the expense of diminishing 
its actual strength and purity, they ought to take time to know their 
converts, or at least to give the converts time to know something of 
themselves, and of God's truth. In addition to these remarks, I am 
constrained to add, 

3. That some fruits of modern revivals are not precisely such as 
could be desired. The Apostle asserts in the fifth chapter of his 
epistle to the Galatians, that " the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 
long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," &c. And we know that 
the marks of Christ's flock are humility, sacred regard to the truth, 
and a wise and heavenly charity. If then, instead of these fruits, we 
find in many instances, conceit, self-confidence, presumption, pride 
' rash judging, and lack of Christian sincerity, is it not requiring too 
itiuch of us to believe that these fruits grew upon the tree of life? 
Do they not appear more like the grapes of Sodom and the clusters 
of Gomorrah? Is it to be wondered at, reverend sir, that the cause 
of revivals, under these circumstances, should be deeply injured ? I 
have heard individuals of sound mind, and of undoubted piety, assert, 
and that recently, that they could no longer read with the same degree 
of pleasure they once did, the accounts of revivals in our public jour- 
nals. And why? Not because thoy question the reality of revivals 
in the abstract — nor because they do not consider them as precious — 
nor because they have ceased to feel a deep interest in them ; but 
because they are dissatisfied and disgusted with the human machinery 
employed in them ; and because their confidence in the correctness 
of these accounts has, for various reasons, been exceedingly diminished. 

That the publication of your Lectures on this momentous subject, 
may do much to maintain and advance the glorious cause of revivals 
in its purity on the one hand, and to expose and repel a most lament- 
able abuse of it on the other, is the prayer, 

Reverend sir, of your friend and 

Brother in the Lord, 

PHILIP MILLEDOLER. 

Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XIV. 

From the REVEREND NATHAN LORD, D. D. 
President of Dartmouth college, Hanover, New Hampshire. 

Dartmouth College, March 12, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

I have been obliged by ill health to defer my answer to your favor 
of the 20th of January last, almost to the very limit which you set. - 

You have undertaken a work which I regard as of the highest im- . 
portance in reference to the rehgious interests of our country. Many 
are in the habit of representing these interests as being in a state of 
unexampled prosperity. I cannot so regard them. The religious 
excitement is, indeed, well nigh universal ; but I am not satisfied that 
it is all safe, and much of it which has been called the work of God, 
will not, I fear, long bear that designation. The sober theology 
which once was the instrument of salvation, seems to have given 
place, in many instances, to a questionable philosophy ; human con- 
ceits and systems of measures have been in higher regard than the 
simple truths and ordinances of the gospel ; large masses of the peo- 
ple have been hurried into excesses of fanatical delusion ; and busy 
infidelity has taken its advantage to mislead the simple, and inflame 
the more grossly wicked against every form and exhibition of Christ- 
ianity. Much as I believe that the spirit of religious freedom, to the 
rapid increase of which these evils may be ascribed, will ultimately 
be regulated and controlled by the knowledge to which it will give 
birth, and subserve the cause of Christian piety to an extent that the 
world has never yet known, I still fear that these evils will become 
yet more prevalent, and for a time obscure the glory of our Zion. 
And I have ardently desired that some judicious pen might describe 
our dangers, and assert and vindicate the nature, and claims, and 
evidences of vital Christianity, the work of the Holy Spirit upon the 
human soul, against the mistakes of friends, and the assaults of 
enemies. 



APPENDIX, 325 

l?^ou ask for an account of revivals of religion in this college. The 
6rst president, Wheelock, in his "Narratives," vi^rites of frequent 
instances of general seriousness, and numerous conversions among 
the students, during his administration. I have not been able, how- 
ever, to obtain much information in respect to that remote period. 

The memory of our present neighbors extends back no farther 
than 1805, on this subject. Then, apparently in connection with the 
accession of a new Professor of Theology, Mr, ShurtlifF, and a more 
direct influence of religious instruction than had been previously 
used, the minds of the students generally became religiously affected, 
and about twenty gave evidence of conversion. From that time till 
1815, the colleo-e was not without more or less apparent divine influ- 
ence. In that year a scene of wonderful interest occurred. While 
the college was beginning to be agitated by difficulties between the 
President and the Trustees, which led to the memorable "question" in 
the courts, at once, and without a premonition, the Spirit of God evi- 
dently descended, and saved the great body of the students. A ge- 
neral and almost instantaneous solemnity prevailed. Almost before 
Christians became aware of God's presence, and increased their sup- 
plications, the impenitent were deeply convicted of sin, and besought 
instructions of their officers. The chapel, the recitation room, every 
place of meeting became a scene of weeping, and presently of rejoic- 
ing J so that in a few weeks about sixty students were supposed to 
have become regenerate. A revival of such rapidity and power has 
been rarely known, and perhaps never one of such unquestionable 
fruits. Not one of the number of apparent converts, at that time, is 
known to have forfeited a Christian standing. Most of them are mi- 
nisters of the gospel, a few are missionaries, and all are still using their 
influence for Christ. 

Revivals afterwards occurred in 1819, 1821, and 1826, the latter 
perhaps more extensive than any other, but not so perfect in its cha- 
racter and results as that of 1815. Within the last eighteen months, 
also, the college has received divine blessing, and about twenty of our 
young men have united with the church. 

The work of the Holy Spirit in a college is immediately perceptible. 
A company of young men now moved only by ambition, or the love 
of pleasure, and presently by convictions of religious truth, present 
aspects wholly different, and opposite, impossible to be overlooked 
or mistakeup I have myself seen them, and have been filled with 
wonder at the great power of God. I would that the unbeliever 
might witness these different phases, minds ardent, excitable, impa- 



326 Af^PENDIJC. 

tient of dictation Sind control, beguiled by maxims of false honor, a^i^ 
governed only by the force of laws ; and the same minds, the next 
month, or week, subdued, quiet, obedient, benevolent, yielding to the 
force of moral obligation, and governed by the simplest intimations 
of right Existence itself, it has seemed to me, is not more unques- 
tionable, than the reality of divine influence in such cases. 

In regard to these revivals of religion in our college, I think it im- 
portant to remark, that in every instance they seemed the product of 
the Spirit's influence, silently affecting different minds with the same 
truths, and multiplying the trophies of divine mercy. They were an 
effect, and not a cause of divine interposition ; and except as occa- 
sionally blemished through human weakness and sinfulness, bore the 
characteristics of the wisdom that is from above. We have known 
here nothing, except by report, of the " new measures" for building 
up the kingdom of Christ. We have no machinery for making con- 
verts ; and we could allow none to be introduced. We should be 
afraid to make, or suffer an impression upon the young men under 
our care, many of whom will be ministers of Jesus Christ, that the 
gospel can be helped, or the work of the Holy Ghost facilitated by 
human devices. And 1 think we shall hold, on this subject, to our 
general principles, too long settled by the experience of ages, and 
confirmed by the blessing of God attending the apphcation of them, 
to be now thrown away in the ardor of questionable excitements, or 
for the love of innovation, or even to escape the imputation of being 
the enemies of revivals. When shall the ministers and churches of 
the Redeemer know effectually their proneness to mar the beautiful 
simplicity of the gospel, to add something of their own inventions to 
its sufficient ordinances, to lead instead of following the divine Pro- 
vidence, and to mistake their own dreaming for a heavenly impulse, 
to inflame the sacrifice with unhallowed fire, and to arrogate that 
power and that glory which belong to God only ? I cannot tell you 
how much I sometimes fear, when I look abroad upon our country, 
that Christianity will degenerate in our keeping. Yet let us hold to 
the old foundations. There are many yet to maintain the right, and 
the recovering spirit, we are assured, will accomplish the purposes of 
divine mercy, will correct and convert the world. 

I may add that the past year has been distinguished by revivals of 
religion throughout New Hampshire, generally in connection with 
protracted^raeetings, and of a highly interesting character. A great 
amount of professional influence has been brought into the churches. 
In a few instances, I suppose, the meetings have not been under th© 



APPENDIX. 327 

most judicious management, but generally our ministers have been 
wise. An important convention of ministers has been recently holden 
at Windsor, for the discussion of protracted meetings, and the dis- 
cussion vi^ill prove immensely advantageous. 

With my best wishes in behalf of your undertaking, 

I am, dear sir, yours sincerely, 

N.LORD. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



L E T T E R X V . 

From the REVEREND HEMAN HUMPHREY, D. D, 

President of the College at Amherst, Massachusetts. 

Amherst College, April 10, 1832. 
My Dear Brother, 

I am glad to learn that you have consented to the PubUcation of your 
sermons on the all-important subject of Revivals ; and hi compliance 
with your request, I send you such brief sketches of what I have myself 
witnessed, in " times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord," as 
the extreme pressure of other duties will permit. Although my expe- 
rience in this regard, falls far below that of some of my brethren, I 
desire always to retain a grateful remembrance of what "my eyes have 
seen and my ears have heard." 

While I confine my remarks, chiefly, to the character and fruits of 
the revivals which have taken place in this college, since I became 
connected with it, in 1823, 1 cannot persuade myself wholly to pass 
over the memorable summer of 1821, in the church of Pittsfield, Mass. 
which was then under my pastoral care. There had been large addi- 
tions to the church, in the preceding year, under the blessed effusions 
of the Holy Spirit ; and I did not, I am ashamed to say, expect to " see 
greater things than these," so soon after the cloud seemed to have passed 
away. But early in the spring, Mr. Nettleton came, " to rest a while," 
in my family ; which, however, the importunities of the people did not 
permit him to do : and so far as means were concerned, I have always 



328 APPENDIX. 

ascribed it, chiefly, to his earnest and pungent preaching, that the at- 
tention of many was soon called up, and that in the course of a few 
weeks, we were all constrained to exclaim, " What hath God wrought !'* 
It was, indeed, a " year of the right hand of the Most High." Never 
were such tokens of the presence and power of God seen before in 
that community. And yet there was very little animal excitement, 
even at the height of the revival. The sinner would often turn pale 
and tremble, under the awakening and searching truths of the gospel: 
but there were no outcries, either in our public, or more private meet- 
ings — no attempts to enhst the passions. The object was, to make 
the impenitent feel that they were under a righteous condemnation — 
that they had destroyed themselves — that their hearts were entirely 
alienated from God — that in this ahenation lay their guilt not their 
excuse — that, of course, they were bound to repent and become recon- 
ciled to God without a moment's delay — that, nevertheless, so despe- 
rate was the depravity of their hearts, that nothing short of the power 
of the Holy Ghost would ever subdue it ; and that God was under no 
obUgation to exert that power. 

So far as could be known at the time, and so far as the **' fruits" ena- 
ble us to determine, these and other kindred truths were " the power 
of God unto salvation," to multitudes that were ready to perish. The 
design was, to exalt God and bring the sinner in guilty at every step 
— not to terrify even the vilest transgressor, so as to render him inca- 
pable of reasoning and reflection ; but to induce him, under the strong 
convictions of an enlightened conscience, " to flee from the wrath to 
come, and lay hold on eternal life." I cannot enter into particulars 
at all. I wish I could. Many of them would be highly interesting 
to every pious mind. By those who witnessed and felt them, the 
scenes of that summer will never be forgotten. 

While life and thought and being last, 
Or immortality endures. 

But I hasten to the more immediate object of this communication. 
It was near the close of the spring term, in 1827, that God poured out 
his Spirit for the second time upon Amherst college. The revival 
began in the church, as is most commonly the ease. For several weeks 
there was a manifest increase of concern for those "who were ready to 
perish," till there came to be mighty wrestlings with the Angel of the 
covenant — such as I believe always prevail. The " noise and shaking 
among the dry bones" was sudden, and the work was rapid in its pro- 



APPENDIX. 329 

gress. The word of God was quick and powerful ! In many cases, 
convictions of sin were extremely pungent. In some, they may be 
said to have been overwhelming*. But in most instances, they were 
short. When the student became convinced that the wrath of God 
was justly abiding upon him, he shut himself up with his Bible, and 
his stricken heart under the full persuasion that the crisis of his eternal 
destiny had come. " Once he was ahve without the law," but now 
" the commandment came, sin revived, and the young pharisee, as 
well as the publican, died." In a few days about thirty, and among 
them several who had been very far from the kingdom, and leaders in 
the broad way, were raised up, as we trust, and made to sit together 
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It was a glorious change — a 
most dehghtful spectacle. "These, where had they been?" We 
saw the rock from whence they were hewn, and the hole of the pit from 
which they were digged. It was the Lord's doing, and it was mar- 
vellous in our eyes. 

The next year, 1828, God poured out his spirit again upon the col- 
lege, and to a considerable number of the students, " the gospel," as 
we believe, was " the power of God unto salvation." This work was 
not so decisively marked in all respects as the former ; nor were so 
many " brought out of darkness into marvellous light," as in the pre- 
ceding revival. All the leading characteristics, however, were the 
same. " The fruits of the Spirit were, in both cases, love, joy, peace, 
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance ;" 
and the effects upon the institution were visible and happy. 

In the spring of 1831, the divine Saviour once more came to our un- 
w^orthy seminary, " upon the chariot of salvation." The church had 
been for some time in a low state, and among the first favorable indi- 
cations of returning life, there were those deep searcbings of heart, 
which generally precede a powerful work of the Spirit in the conver- 
sion of sinners. Soon the great inquiry was made, by one and an- 
other, " What must I do to be saved ?" As had been the case in 1827, 
the work was rapid, and veiy marked in all its leading features. Fear 
of punishment there undoubtedly was, in many cases, perhaps in all. 
But we heard little of this in our most intimate conversations with the 
awakened. The burden of their complaint was, a hard and stupid heart. 
They had sinned against a holy God, and in this they were utterly inex- 
cusable. The sentence had gone out against them, and it was just. It 
was their immediate duty to submit themselves to God, and beheve on 
the Lord Jesus Christ. There was extreme guilt and infinite hazard 
in every moment's delay. All this they would in general admit, and 

31 



130 Ai>PENt)l3c» 

when they really felt it all, they were in most instances soon brought 
to the great decision. Indeed, from a careful observation of some 
hundreds of cases since I entered the ministry, I have been led think, 
that a sinner rarely remains but a short period under genuine convic- 
tion before he either submits to the terms of the gospel, or begins to 
lose his impressions. A person may be thoughtful for weeks, and 
even months. He may feel a great deal of distress at times ; he may 
thinl?., and his friends may think, that his convictions of sin have been 
deep and searching for a long while, when, in fact, he has never seen 
himself in the blazing hght of God's holy law, and of course has 
never been prepared to lay hold on the hope set before him in the 
gospel. 

The number of apparent conversions in the revival of which I am 
now speaking, was about the same as in 1827 ; and in this, as well as 
that, some were almost literally plucked as brands from the burning. ^ 
Such and such young men, we had been ready to say will hold out 
against every threatening and every invitation. But where was 
our faith ? "A new song was put into their mouths, even praise to 
our God." 

I need not tell you, that these " times of refreshing" have been of 
inestimable advantage to the college, by raising the standard of morals, 
and diffusing a strong rehgious influence throughout our whole youth- 
ful community. During the ten years that the institution has now 
existed, there has been a decided average majority of professed Christ- 
ians in the four classes. In some years more than two-thirds have been 
professors. Tioo hundred and seventy have graduated — sixty of them 
at the last commencement — more than two hundred of whom are hope- 
fully pious ; and about one half the number of students who have en- 
tered college without piety, since it was established, have, as we trust, 
found *^ the pearl of great price," before completing their academical 
course. " It is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes." I 
ought to add, in this place, that there was a powerful revival in this 
seminary under the presidency of Dr. Moore, and that within a few 
months past several individuals have expressed *^ hope in Christ," 
though nothing like general inquiry has prevailed. 

If you ask me, what means and measures have been most emi- 
nently blessed, in the revivals which have fallen under my own per- 
sonal observation in college and elsewhere, I answer, — substantially 
the same as were " mighty through God, to the pulling down of 
strong holds" in the apostolic age — the same as were employed by 
Edwards, and Bellamy, and Brainard, almost a century ago — the 



APPENDIX, 331 

same that have been so remarkably owned of God, under the labors 
of our beloved brother, now in a forei<a^n land — the same that have 
been generally adopted by the most successful preachers in New 
England, during the last thirty yearSi " The sword of the Spirit," I 
need not say, has been the great weapon — nor that "there is none 
like it." The style of preaching has been direct, earnest and uncom- 
promising. The law has been held up in all its strictness and spirit- 
uality. The sinner has been driven from his last refuge, and stripped 
of all his vain excuses. The entire depravity of his heart, and [the 
utter impossibility of his being saved, without the "washing of rege- 
neration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost," have been clearly pointed 
out and earnestly insisted on; but in such a way, as to show the 
rebsi, that if he persists in his rebellion and perishes, he is literally a 
self-destroyer. I might greatly enlarge on this general topic, did my 
time permit, and w^ere it at all necessary. But the style of revival 
preaching, in this part of the country, is too well known to need a 
more particular description. 

Meetings for personal conversation, commonly called inquiry meei^ 
ings, have been held weekly, or oftener, and with great spiritual ad- 
vantage, in all the revivals which have fallen under my notice. The 
duty of prayer, both secret and social, has been earnestly and daily 
urged upon Christians ; but late meetings have generally been dis- 
couraged, as interfering with the religious order of families, and tend- 
ing, in a short time, to exhaust the physical and mental energies of 
God's people, as well as to mingle strange fire with that which is 
kindled from the skies. When met for social prayer, neither minis- 
ters nor laymen have indulged themselves in loud and boisterous vo- 
ciferations, in audible groans, or in smiting their hands together in 
token of their sincerity and earnestness. They have observed, that 
the most noisy waters are seldom deepest ; and have laid more stress 
upon " fervency of spirit," than upon strength of lungs, or muscular 
contortions. With us it has never been customary, either in our 
larger or smaller religious circles, to pray for sinners, who may hap- 
pen to be present, by name, or to indulge in equivalent personalities. 
The general tendency of such a practice, it is thought, would be de- 
trimental to the cause of piety, however different the effect might 
be in sohtary instances. Females have kept silence in all the 
meetings, except such as were composed exclusively of their own 
sex. 

Calling anxious sinners into the aisles, to be addressed and prayed 
for, has not been practised, within the circle of my observation ; nor 



332 APPENDIX. 

have they been requested, before the great congregation, to come for- 
ward from every part of the house, and occupy seats vacated for that 
purpose ; and wherever such measures have been adopted, within my 
knowledge, I beheve that the cause of revivals has lost more than it 
has gained by them. It is unsafe to argue from the present effect of 
any new system, that it is better than the old. It may accomplish 
more in a week, but not so much in a year. It may bring a greater 
number of persons into the visible kingdom of Christ, but not so 
many into his spiritual kingdom. This all will admit is possible. 

For myself, every new revival of religion which I am permitted to 
witness, serves to confirm me in the opinion, that it is safest to walk 
in " the old paths," and to employ those means and measures which 
long experience has sanctioned, and in the use of which the 
churches in this part of the land, have been so greatly enlarged and 
edified. 

With the warmest Christian salutations, I subscribe myself 
Your brother in the gospel. 

H. HUMPHREY. 

Rev, W. B. Sprague, D.D. 



LETTER XVI. 

From the REVEREND JEREMIAH DAY, D. D, 

President of Yale college, New Haven, Connecticut- 

Yale College, March 2, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

An ansv^^er to your letter of January 15tb, requesting some general 
account of the religious revivals with which this college has been fa- 
vored, has been, from time to time, postponed, on account of unfore- 
seen and pressing engagements. 

The special presence and influence of the Spirit of God, have been 
repeatedly manifested in the institution. The means which have 
been used, in these seasons of deep and solemn interest, the views 
and feelings which have been expressed, and the results which have 
followed, correspond so nearly with what has frequently been related 
of other congregations in New England, that a very summary ac- 
count of what has been witnessed here, will probably be deemed 
sufficient. 

The college church was constituted in June, 1757. Since that time, 
there have been several seasons of earnest attention to the great in- 
terests of religion, on the part of the students ; three of which, at 
least, were during the administration of President Dwight. The two 
which were the most general and powerful, were in 1802 and 1831. 
I find, by consulting the records of the church, that the number added 
to it by profession, from among the undergraduates, were, in 1783, 
20 ; 1802, 58 ; 1808, 20 ; 1815, 25 ; 1821, 31 ; 1831, 69. 

Though these additions to the college church, may give a compara- 
tive view of the numbers of those who, in different years, professed to 
devote themselves to the service of Christ ; yet they are far from ex- 
pressing the lohole amount of converts from among the students. 
Many have preferred to become connected with churches in places 
where their parents resided. Others have united with churches of 
different denominations in New Haven. The present number of com- 

31* 



334 APPENDIX. 

municants, among the undergraduates, including those who belong to 
other denominations, is 190. 

The means which have been used here, in seasons of unusual reli- 
gious attention, are such as are suggested by a deep conviction of the 
practical bearing of two essential principles; one, that the conversion 
of sinners is effected through the instrumentality of truth, scriptural 
truth: the other, that no exhibition of the truth will be effectual, with- 
out the special agency of the Holy Spirit. The former of these prin- 
ciples has excited Christians to make earnest and persevering efforts 
to gain the attention of sinners to the great truths, on a belief of which 
their salvation depends ; such as the depravity of their hearts and 
lives, the extent and purity of the divine law, the righteous condemna- 
tion of those who remain under its curse, the all-sufficient sacrifice of 
Christ, the freeness of the offers of salvation in his name, the obliga- 
tion of all immediately to repent, and believe and obey. These, and 
other kindred truths, have been presented, not as subjects of specula- 
tion, but as affecting realities, involving the eternal welfare or ruin of 
the soul. They have been pressed on the conscience, in the stated 
ministrations of the Sabbath, in occasional sermons and addresses, in 
circles composed of those who were deeply sotemn, and in affection- 
ate private ^conversation. The aim has been, by embracing every 
favorable opportunity of exhibiting and enforcing the truth, to keep 
the conviction of guilt and of danger, together with the only way of 
deliverance, so steadily before the mind, that the sinner could find no 
rest, but in yielding to the claims of the gospel. He has been taught 
that continuance in unbelief is wholly without excuse, and that no 
reUanceis to be placed upon purposes of future repentance. 

While Ministers and Christians have been thus earnest in their 
exhortations and entreaties, their conviction that all would be in vain, 
without the influence of the Spirit, has led them to engage in united 
and fervent supplications for renewing and sanctifying grace. Meet- 
ings for this purpose have been 'multiplied ; the church sometimes 
assembling " with one accord in one place," and at other times meet- 
ing in smaller circles, in different parts of the college building. 

Though meetings for religious instruction, as well as for prayer, 
have been frequent, yet care has been taken to have them so arranged, 
as to interfere, as httle as possible, with the established order of the 
institution. The stated literary exercises have rarely been suspend- 
ed ; though the minds of individuals have occasionally been so deeply 
agitated, as to render it proper, that for a short time, some indulgence 



APPENDIX, 235 

should be granted them, with respect to the appointed course of 
study. 

The/ritiis of these revivals have been seen, in the turning of num- 
bers from the dominion of sin, to a life devoted to the service of God. 
Some who had been open and bold in iniquity, have forsaken their 
vicious courses with abhorrence, and have joyfully, and with full pur- 
pose of heart, consecrated themselves to the interests of the Redeem- 
er's kingdom. Much the greater portion, however, were the sons of 
pious parents, had received a religious education, and had been 
accustomed to regard the doctrines and institutions of Christianity 
with respect. Of those who have here made a pubhc profession of 
religion, few have been known openly to dishonor the cause to which 
they engaged to devote their hearts and lives. Numbers have gone 
forth to bless the churches and our pubhc councils, with their labors 
and influence ■ to give instruction to the tribes of the wilderness ; and 
to carry the light of Salvation to the isles of the sea, and the idolatrous 
nations of Asia. Many, and among them the lamented Evarts and 
Cornelius, have already finished their course with joy, and have gone 
to receive their reward. It will be left to the disclosures of the future 
world, to make known to us all the good which has been done, or is 
yet to be done, by those who have been brought into the kingdom of 
Christ, by the revivals in this college. 

With great regard, 

Your friend and servant, 

JEREMIAH DAY. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XVII 

Prom the REVEREND ASHBEL GREEN, D. D. 
Late President of the College of New Jersey, Princeton. 

Philadelphia, April 10, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

It was my intention, as I have heretofore informed you, to take a 
somewhat extended view of the state of religion in our country, in 
time past, especially with reference to revivals of religion. But this 
I now find impracticable, inasmuch as your contemplated publica- 
tion is, it appears, already in its passage through the press ; and the 
state of my health, and some unavoidable engagements, permit me to 
devote but a small portion of time to this important service. 

Leaving then to yourself, or to your other correspondents, the 
proper notice of the religious revivals which have occurred in our land 
at large, I shall confine myself to four points. 1. Revivals of which 
I have had some personal knowledge. 2. More especially those 
w^hich have taken place in the college of New Jersey. 3. Remarks 
on the best method of conducting revivals, so that under the blessing 
of God they may be productive of the greatest ^amount of -good. 4. 
The errors and abuses which are too often witnessed in a time of 
great and general excitement on the subject of religion — On each of 
these points I shall endeavor to be brief. 

On the first, I must say something negatively — In the second Pres- 
byterian church of Philadelphia, to which I sustained the pastoral re- 
lation for something more than five and twenty years, there has never 
been what is usually understood by the phrase " a general revival of 
religion ;" that is, a period when nearly the whole congregation, or a 
large majority of those who have composed it, have been in a state of 
serious and deep anxiety in regard to their eternal interests ; and this 
resulting in a large number of hopeful conversions, and great addi- 
tions to the communicating members of the church. The congrega- 
tion I served, was originally composed, almost exclusively, of the 
friends and followers of the celebrated Mr. Whitfield: and the church 



APPENDIX. 337 

was, at first, constituted, I think wholly, of converts made under his 
ministry, and that of his coadjutors, the Tennents, Blairs, and Dr» 
Fiiriey, afterwards president of the college at Princeton, New Jersey* 
The first pastor of this church was the Reverend Gilbert Tennent, 
whose wonderful success, in a preaching tour which he made through 
New England, in the close of the year 1740 and the beginning of 
1741, is still pretty correctly known by tradition.* Yet there was 
never any special revival of religion in the congregation to which he 
ministered in this city ; and he was its pastor for more than twenty 
years. He had, first and last, a good many seals of his ministry, but 
they never appeared in clusters. The immediate successor of Mr. 
- Tennent was the well known Mr. John Murray, who after he fled 
from Philadelphia, was settled at Newburyport. Under his ministry, 
as I hav« been- informed, there was, for a short time, something like a 
partial revival of religion — Probably more were awakened, and more 
added to the church, in the short period of his ministry, than In any 
one year of Mr. Tennent's labors in this congregation- To him suc- 
ceeded my venerable and beloved colleague, the Rev. Dr. James 
Sproat. His faithful ministrations were blessed to a goodly number, 
during the five and twenty years of his pastoral relation to this peo- 
ple J but still, there was no special or general revival of religion. 
During my incumbency — for about half the time in a collegiate 
connection with the Rev. Dr. Jane way — there were some periods, as 
there were under the ministrations of our predecessors, in which 
there was a much more lively attention to religion than at others, and 
in which much larger additions than usual were made to the church. 
There was one period, extending from the latter part of 1802, to the 
former part of 1804, when both my colleague and myself had a de- 
gree of raised expectation, that we were about to witness a day of 
God's power, in a general turning to the Lord of the beloved people 
of our pastoral charge. But in this we were not gratified ; although 
a considerable number of hopeful conversions did then take place. 
The most numerous addition to the communion of the church, in any 

* In the early part of my ministry in this city, there were still living several 
members of the church who had belonged to it in the time of Mr. Tennent. 
^ One of these, a very pious and intelligent old lady, told me that she once asked 
Mr. Tennent what was the manner of his preaching which was so singularly 
and generally successful, in his journey through New England. She said his 
answer was—" Madam, there was nothing peculiar in my manner of preaching, 
in that journey. I was constantly travelling, and had scarcely anytime to study 
or meditate. But I went into the pulpit and preached as well as I could, and 
Go4 taught the people 1 had very little to do with it." 



338 APPENDIX. 

one year of my ministry, did not, I think, exceed fifty. Yet there was 
no year without some additions. 

I have witnessed two or three revivals of religion in the plac* of 
rny nativity — Hanover, Morris county, New Jersey. The most re- 
markable one, and the only one I shall particularly notice, was in the 
year 1790. It commenced and attained its height under the ministry 
of my father, and he died in the midst of it. My mother wrote to me, 
to hasten me to my father's death bed ; but although I made as much 
speed as I could, he was dead and buried before I could reach his resi- 
dence. The state of the congregation was deeply interesting and 
affecting* About thirty individuals — the gleanings of the harvest — - 
came to converse with me on the state of their souls, in one day. 
Some of them greatly lamented that they had permitted their pastor 
to die, without letting him know their anxious feelings, and receiving 
his counsel — They were kept back by fear and shame. On one oc- 
casion, at this time, when I was preaching in the pulpit vacated by 
the recent death of my father, and making a particular address to the 
youth of the congregation, recognizing them as my coevals and some 
of them as my school fellows, they rose, by a kind of sudden and si- 
multaneous impulse, and stood up in every part of the house. This 
was not a matter of any preconcert, for the occurrence was, I believe, 
entirely singular, and they certainly did not know that I intended to 
address them, for my intention was known to no one but myself. 
Having mentioned this fact, it seems pecuHarly proper to observe, 
that this revival was conducted with a remarkable freedom from os- 
tentation and noise. A minister only nine miles distant, told me, that 
till he went to attend my father's funeral, he did not know that there 
was any particular attention to religion in the place. The people had 
been unusually wellindoctrinated and grounded in religious truths ; 
and hence, when the special influences of the Holy Spirit descended 
on them, they were not overwhelmed with the confusion and agita- 
tion, which the ignorant and uninstructed often manifest when their 
eyes are first effectually opened on their guilty and undone condition 
— I find I am running into too much length, and will therefore not add 
any thing farther under this head, but proceed — 

2. To give some account of the revivals of religion which have 
taken place in the college of New Jersey. A more extended and 
particular narrative than I can now give,' may be seen in my history 
of the college, appended to the Baccalaureate discourses, which 1 
published twelve years ago — You are aware, I suppose, that Nassau 
Hall was founded by the friends and advocates of the great and ge- 



APPENDIX. 339 

neral revival of religion in the time of Whitfield ; and that the favor- 
ite object of its founders was, to provide a nursery for the church, or 
for the education of youth for the gospel ministry. In less than the 
first twenty years of its existence, it lost by death five presidents — 
Dickinson, Burr, Edwards, Davies and Finley — all of them ardent 
friends of revivals. Many of the first students of this institution, 
being educated professedly for the gospel ministry, were hopefully 
pious when they entered college ; and to cherish and promote practi- 
cal piety, was ever an object of care and solicitude with the eminently 
holy men whose names I have mentioned. Nor were their hopes dis- 
appointed, or their labors without a rich reward. The first location 
of the college was at Newark, where it remained for ten years, under 
the presidency of Mr. Burr, who sustained at the same time the pas- 
toral relation to the Presbyterian congregation in that town. During 
this period, I have not heard of any thing that could be called a reli- 
gious revival among the students — a large part of them were probably 
piou^ when they entered the institution. In 1757 the college was re- 
moved to Princeton ; the buildings there having been previously pre- 
pared for its reception. The following extrsfct of a letter from Dr. 
Finley, to Mr. Davies, then in Virginia, and who had given the Doctor 
some " good news" of his success in preaching the gospel, both to the 
white population and the negroes — will give the best account now 
obtainable of the first general revival in the college — " April 16th, 1757 
— I greatly rejoice that our Lord Jesus has put it in my power to make 
you a large compensation, for the good news you sent me. God has 
done great things for us. Our glorious Redeemer poured out his 
Holy Spirit upon the students of our college,* not one of all who were 
present neglected ; and they were in number sixty. The whole 
house, say my correspondents, was a Bochim. Mr. William Ten- 
nent, who was on the spot, says, " He never saw any in that case, 
who had more clear views of God, themselves and their defects, their 
impotence and misery, than they had in general ; that there never 
was he believes in any house, more genuine sorrow for sin, and long^ 
ing after Jesus : that this glorious work was gradual, and spread like 
the increasing light of the morning ; that it was not begun by the 
ordinary means of preaching, nor promoted by alarming methods : 
yet so great was their distress, that he judged it improper to use any 

* Both Dr. Finley and Mr. Davies were eventually presidents of the college, 
but before either of them was so, as was the case when this letter was written, 
they called the institution "our college." It was so in fact ; they and their 
friends both founded it, and sustained it. 



340 APPENDIX. 

arguments of terror in public, lest some should sink under the 
weight : that what makes the gracious visitation more remarkable 
was, that a little before, some of the youth had given a greater loose to 
their corruptions, than was ordinary among them ; a spirit of pride and 
contention prevailing, to the great grief, and even discouragement of 
the worthy president ; [Mr. Burr] that there were no public outcries 
but a decorous, silent solemnity ; that before he came away, several 
had received something hke the spirit of adoption ; being tenderly af- 
fected with the sense of redeeming love, and thereby disposed and 
determined to endeavor after universal holiness. Mr. Treat and Mr. 
Gilbert Tennent tell me in theirs, that the concern appeared rational, 
solid, and scriptural ; and that in a remarkable degree." 

The next account of a general revival of religion in Nassau Hall, 
I had in a letter addressed to me personally, when I was writing the 
history of the college, by the late Rev. Dr. John Woodhull, in answer 
to certain inquiries I had sent to him, in regard to the state of the in- 
stitution in the time of Dr. Finley. He says—" As to revivals of re- 
ligion, there were some partial ones in college, [the foregoing ac^ 
count shows, that one at least was more than partial] before Dr. Fin- 
ley's time ; but in his time there was something general. It began 
in 1762 in the Freshman class, to which I then belonged. It was a 
pretty large class, containing between twenty-five and thirty mem- 
bers. Almost as soon as the session commenced, this class met, once 
in the week, for prayer. One of the members became deeply im^ 
pressed : and this aifected the whole class — The other classes and 
the whole college soon became much impressed. Every class be- 
came a praying society. Societies were also held by the students, in 
the town and in the country. I suppose there was not one that be^ 
longed to the college, but was affected more or less. There were 
two members of the senior class who were considered as opposers of 
the work at first. Yet both of these persons were afterwards 
preachers of the gospel. The work continued about one year. Fif- 
teen, or about half of my class, was supposed to be pious ; and in 
the college about fifty, or nearly one half of the whole nnmber of 
students." 

Dr. Witherspoon was the successor of Dr. Finley, and entered on 
his office in August, 176S. There was a remarkable revival of reli- 
gion in the college under his administration ; but I am not able to de- 
termine accurately the time of its commencement, nor that of its ter- 
mination. From a collation of some facts and circumstances, I believe 
that it began in 1770, and that its effects were felt in the college till 



APPENDIX. ^41 

1773; but of this revival no printed or written account has ever been 
seen by me. I have heard much of it ; and while I was a professor 
in the college, before my settlement in Philadelphia, one of the sub- 
jects of if, Lewis Fuilleteau "Wilson, then a practising physician in 
Princeton, but afterwards a minister of the gospel of much reputation 
and esteem in North Carolina, gave me something like a connected 
narrative of this display of divine power and mercy ; although his 
own case was chiefly the subject of his communication, tie was an 
Englishman by birth, and had his grammar training in the celebrated 
Westminster school, but was sent to Princeton to complete Ms edu- 
cation under Doctor Witherspoon. He graduated in 1773 j and his 
statement was in substance this — A very serious attention to religion, 
he said, began in the college while he was a student, and increased 
till a large proportion, perhaps a considerable majority, of all the in- 
habitants of the house, became deeply affected with a concern for 
their eternal well being. The work, however, had at first some op- 
posers ; and among these, my informant represented himself as the 
most decided and active of all. When he discovered that a meeting 
for prayer and religious conference was held in a particular apart- 
ment, as was often done, he said that he used to go into an adjoining 
room and play on his flute, that he might interrupt the exercises : and 
when some of his fellow students endeavored to talk with him, seri- 
ously and tenderly, he not only repelled their advances, but went and 
entered a complaint against them to Dr. Witherspoon. He told the 
Doctor that he, Wilson, was an Englishman, and an Episcopalian ; 
and that no one had a right to intermeddle with him, or with his reli- 
gion. The Doctor said something to quiet him, and sent him to his 
room. Shortly after this occurrence, the Rev. Dr. Spencer, a trustee 
of the college, delivered a sermon in the prayer hall of the edifice, 
which Wilson attended of course ; and an impression was now made 
on his conscience, which he was never able to shake ofl^ After some 
time of sore conflict, he obtained a comfortable hope of his reconcilia^ 
tion with God through Jesus Christ ; and when he gave me this ac- 
count, I thought him an eminent, humble and fervent Christian. This 
individual was one of the dearest and most valued friends of my 
early life ; and hence I have indulged my feelings in repeating his 
statement so particularly. But it serves to show, better than any 
thing else I could say, the nature and extent of the revival which is 
now under consideration. I could name a number of men, afterwards 
of great distinction in our country, who were at tliis time very deeply 
impressed with religious truth ; and who for years were considered a^ 

32 



342 APPENDIX. 

practically pious ; and yet, eventually, lost ail serious sense of religion, 
and probably became infidels in principle. On the other hand, how- 
ever, a number — and I believe a large number — retained and adorned 
their religious profession through their subsequent lives — I have under- 
stood that several eminent ministers of the gospel, besides him whom 
I have particularly mentioned, dated their change of heart and life, 
from what they experienced in the college at this time. 

For the long period of full forty years, after what I have just 
stated, there was nothing in Nassau Hall that had the appearance, or 
the name, of a religious revival. The military spirit that pervaded 
our whole land, shortly after what took place as narrated above, was 
exceedingly unfriendly to vital piety, among all descriptions of our 
citizens. Before the colleges of our country were broken up, as the 
most, if not all of them were, in the course of our revolutionary war, 
military enthusiasm had seized the minds of the students, to such a 
degree that they could think of little else than warlike operations. 
The gentleman whose case I have mentioned, was, for a few months, 
a tutor in the college at Princeton ; and he told me that the students 
formed themselves into a military company, chose their officers, fur- 
nished themselves with muskets, learned the manual exercise, and 
could not be kept from practising their evolutions, even during the 
hours of study, and in the college edifice. He said that they in fact 
drove him out of the house ; that is, they rendered his situation so un- 
pleasant that he abruptly resigned his tutorship, and went to the 
study of medicine in Philadelphia. The exercises of the college at 
Princeton were totally suspended, for more than three years ; and the 
edifice was a barrack, in turn for both the British and American 
troops ; and the interior of it was completely defaced, exhibiting no- 
thing but filth and dilapidation. In the spring of 1782, when I be- 
came a member of the institution, about two years after the recom- 
mencement of its exercises, the walls of the building were still perfo- 
rated in a number of places, the effect of the cannon balls which had 
passed through them, from the artillery of the American army in the 
battle of Princeton— with a view to drive out of the edifice a British 
corps that had taken shelter there ; and only two of the entries were 
in a habitable state. While I was a member of college, there were 
but two professors of rehgion among the students, and not more than 
five or six, who scrupled the use of profane language in common con- 
versation, and sometimes it was of a very shocking kind. To the 
influence of the American war succeeded that of the French revolution, 
still more pernicious, and I think more general. The open and 



APPENDIX. 343 

avowed infidelity of Paine, and of other writers of the same character, 
produced incalculable injury to religion and morals throughout our 
whole country ; and its effects on the minds of young men who va- 
lued themselves on their genius, and were fond of novel speculations, 
was the greatest of all. Dr. Smith, the president of the college at 
that time, used to complain grievously and justly, of the mischievous 
and fatal effects which the prevalent infidelity had on the minds of his 
pupils. He told me, that one man, who sent his son to the college, 
stated explicitly in a letter, that not a word was ever to be said to him 
on the subject of religion — The youth was refused admittance. Dur- 
ing Dr. Smith's incumbency, there were perhaps some instances, not 
known to me, although a trustee of the institution, of young men 
who became pious while they were students of the college ; and there 
were always a number of religious students on the charitable funds, 
appropriated by the donors to the education of poor and pious youth 
for the gospel ministry ; and some also who had become pious before 
they went to college, who there supported themselves on their own 
funds. But there certainly was nothing that so much as approxi- 
mated to a revival of religion ; and Dr. Smith's infirm state of health, 
in the latter part of his time as president, disqualified him for all vi- 
gorous action, in sustaining the government of the college ; and this 
favored that tendency to dissipation and dissolute morals, which had 
long prevailed ; and which, aided by some other concurring causes, 
had risen to a most fearful height, when I was called to the presidency 
in the autumn of 1812. 

If ever a man entered on an ofRce with fear and trembling I did so ; 
but yet it was with a firm purpose, that by the help and blessing of 
God, on which I most sensibly felt my dependance, I would either 
work a reformation or sink under the attempt ; and for a time it seem- 
ed very doubtful, which of these events would be realized. In look- 
ing over the first address that I made to the students, I find that I con- 
cluded it with these sentences — " Could you be engaged to seek effect- 
ually the favor of God, and to live habitually in his fear, you would 
be a law to yourselves ; and all our business would be instruction, and 
all our labor a delight. Then your pursuits would be rightly directed, 
and while your prospects in this world would be cheering, those be- 
yond it would be rapturous. Earnestly seek, therefore, the knowledge 
of the true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, whom to know 
aright is life eternal. The time has been, when scarcely an individual 
in this house was inattentive to the concerns of his soul's salvation — 
It may be so again — Gracious God ! let me but behold it and thy ser- 



344 APPENDIX. 

vant will depart in peace, having seen thy salvation." — —Yes, ttnd 
through the undeserved and boundless goodness of God, I did at last 
" behold it ;" but it was not till after a two years' struggle, and with 
such difficulties and discouragements as no worldly recompense would 
induce rae to think for a mament of again encountering ; but for all 
of which I was infinitely overpaid, when it became literally true, that 
*' scarcely an individual in that house was inattentive to the concerns 
of his soul's salvation." My first measure in attempting reformation, 
was the organizing of a system of religious instruction for the whole 
institution. It was summarily this — Every student was required to 
commit accurately to memory, and to recite to his teacher, the catechism 
€>f the church or denomination, to which his parents belonged. The 
Junior class studied and recited Paley's Natural Theology — The 
Senior class, Paley's Evidences of the Christian Religion : and the 
whole of the students, indiscriminately, prepared five chapters of the 
Bible which were previously pointed out to them, for examination and 
recitation on the afternoon of the Sabbath. The recitations on Paley's 
Evidences and on the Bible, were always taken by myself— the other 
officers of the college heard those on the Catechisms and Natural 
Theology. This arrangement made it necessary that every student 
should possess a Bible ; and I was surprised to find that scarcely a stu- 
dent, except the professors of relio-ion, owned a copy. The deficiency 
was so great, that the stores in the town could not fully supply it, till 
they obtained a number from the cities. An account of this great and 
glorious work of divine grace was laid before the trustees of the institu- 
tion, in a semi-annual report on the state of the college, which I was 
then in the habit of making. A part of this I shall transcribe, as af- 
fording the best statement of facts which I can give — The account, 
contrary to my expectation, was ordered by the trustees to be made 
public — " For nearly a year past, (says the report) a very large pro- 
portion of the students have attended on all the rehgious exercises of 
the college with more than ordinary seriousness. There was nothing 
more apparent, however, for six weeks after the commencement of 
the present session, in November, 1814, than an increase of their se- 
rious attention to the religious duties of college ; an increase both of 
the degree of seriousness, and of the number of those in whom it was 
visible. Every religious service, both on secular days and on the Sab- 
bath, was attended with a solemnity that was very impressive. In 
the second week of January, however, without any unusual occurrence 
in providence ; — without any alarming event, without any extraordi- 
uary preaching, without any special instruction, or other means that 



APPENDIX. 345 

might be supposed peculiarly adapted to interest the mind, the effect 
became more apparent ; and in about four weeks there were very few 
individuals in the college who were not deeply impressed with a sense 
of the importance of spiritual and eternal things. There was scarcely 
a room — perhaps not one — which was not a place of earnest secret 
devotion. For a time it seemed as if the whole of our charge was 
pressing into the kingdom of God. This state of things has contin- 
ued without much variation to the present time. Some indeed have 
become confirmed in the hopes and habits of evangehcal piety ; while 
others are serious, thoughtful and devout, though perhaps not in so 
great a degree as once they had been ; and some are losing the im- 
pressions they lately felt. The result is, that of one hundred and five 
students, there are somewhat more than forty, in regard to whom, so 
far as the time will permit us to judge, favorable hopes may be enter- 
tained that they are the subjects of renewing grace. There are twelve 
or fifteen more, who still retain such promising impressions of rehgion, 
as to authorize a hope that the issue may be favorable : and nearly 
the whole of the remainder show a great readiness to attend on the 
social exercises of religion ; not only on those which are stated and 
customary, but on those which are occasional, and the attendance on 
which is entirely voluntary." Such was the general statement then 
made. The means which had been employed and blessed of God in 
producing the revival, were stated to be — " First and chiefly, the study 
of the Holy Scriptures, accompanied with comments on the portion 
read, and a practical application of the leading truths contained in it. 

God has remarkably honored and blessed his own word it has 

qualified them to hear preaching with advantage, and at length the 
revealed truth, has we trust, been powerfully and effectually applied 
to their consciences, by the Holy Spirit its author. * * * * 2. Appro- 
priate addresses have frequently been made ; and the [public] services 
have been conducted with a special view to their advantage and reli- 
gious edification. * * + + 3. The discipline of the college vigorously 
and vigilantly maintained, has preserved the youth generally from 
those vicious practices and indulgences, which counteract and destroy 
all serious impressions. + * * * 4 The few youths who were pre- 
viously pious, had for more than a year, been earnestly engaged in 
prayer for this event. When they perceived the general and increas- 
ing seriousness which has been noticed, several of them made an 
agreement to speak privately and tenderly to their particular friends 
and acquaintance, on the subject of religion : and what they said was 
in almost every instance, not only well received, but those with whom 

32* 



34B APPENDIX. 

they conversed, became earnestly engaged in those exercises which> 
it is hoped, have issued in genuine piety. To promote and cherish 
this spirit, a short address on the subject of reUgion was made after 
prayer on every Saturday evening. In preaching on the Lord's day 
morning, subjects were selected suited to the existing state of the 
college ; a weekly lecture, intended for the students exclusively, was 
given by myself, on every Tuesday evening; a prayer meeting was 
held every Friday evening, at which one of the Theological profess- 
ors commonly made an address ; a prayer meeting was, every evening, 
held among themselves, at which a large proportion of the whole col- 
lege attended ; smaller and more select associations for prayer were 
also formed; the individuals whose minds were anxious, were, as often 
as they requested it, carefully conversed and prayed with in private ; 
writings of approved character, on doctrinal and practical religion 
were recommended ; and a short system of questions and counsel* 
was drawn up by myself, for the use of those who appeared to have 
entered on a life of practical piety." 

Such, my dear sir, is a summary account of the great revival of reli^ 
gion with which it pleased a gracious and sovereign God to bless the 
college of New Jersey, while I presided over it — For a more particu- 
lar and extended account, if any desire to see it, reference may be had 
to the pamphlet pubhshed by the order of the trustees. I know not by 
whom this pamphlet was sent to the editor of the Christian Observer 
in Britain ; but nearly the whole of it was republished in that periodi- 
cal in the month of October, 1815, with some remarks of a laudatory 
kind, and some of a different character. Whether this revival was 
more general and extensive than some that preceded it, I am not 
able to determine. First and last, but a single individual, as I 
had good reason to believe, remained without serious impressions of 
greater or less pungency : but there was one, and he a diligent and 
orderly student, who declared as I was well informed, that through 
the whole he felt no seriousness, or emotion of a religious kind at all. 
The fruits of this revival were happy and lasting. For although a 
number lost their impressions, some speedily and some very gradually, 
yet there are a goodly number now in public hfe, who are bringing 
forth the fruits of that renovated nature, which was imparted to them 
by the gracious Spirit of God, in this revival. I once counted the 
number of ministers of the gospel whose conversion was believed 

* This has since been published as a tract, and widely distributed. When 
written, I had no expectation that it would go beyond the walls of the college, 
except as a student might choose to keep a copy for Ms own use in future. 



APPENDIX. 347 

to have taken place at this time. I forgot what the number was, but 
I remember I thought it greater than that produced on any similar 
occasion in Nassau Hall. There were two other periods, during my 
presidency, at which hopes were excited, that we were on the eve of 
another general revival. But the favorable appearances passed away, 
without reahzing this hope ; yet not without leaving several monu- 
ments of divine grace ; some of them very remarkable. Mr. Ramsey, 
who has recently gone on a mission to the East Indies, in the employ 
of the A. B. C. F. Missions, narrated to me, shortly before he left this 
city, the circumstances of his conversion, at one of the two periods to 
which I have referred. There have also been favorable appearances, 
and some instances apparently of a real change of heart and life, since 
I left the college* But of these you can obtain better information than 
I can give, from the present president of the college — There has not, 
however, been any thing like a general revival. May a gracious God 
soon grant it ! — to an institution consecrated by its founders to the 
promotion of science in union with piety; and in behalf of which many 
fervent prayers, both of the living and the dead, have ascended to the 
throne of his mercy. 

3. My remarks on the best method of conducting revivals, so that 
under the blessing of God they may be productive of the greatest 
amount of good, are now to be offered. Of what you may have said 
in your forthcoming discourses on this topic, I am not apprized ; 
but I suppose it probable that either incidentally or directly it has 
received your attention ; and the statement I have just made in re- 
gard to what took place under my presidency in Nassau Hall, indi- 
cates my general views in relation to the conducting of revivals ; for 
what was then done I approved, and nothing that I wished done was 
omitted ; nor has any thing since occurred to change the opinions 
that I at that time entertained — I then say briefly that in a time of 
revival, so far am I from thinking that the preaching employed should 
be merely hortatory, and principally addressed to the feelings, that I 
am persuaded it ought to be eminently doctrinal. Lively, and ten- 
der, and close, and full of application it certainly should be ; but the 
great and fundamental doctrines of the gospel should be brought out 
cleai:ly — be lucidly explained, and much insisted on. There ought 
to be a good many of what I would call discriminating discourses — in 
which true religion should be distinguished from every counterfeit, 
and the danger of embracing and resting on a false hope be fully 
exhibited. Of what may be denominated, by way of eminence, gos- 
pel preaching, there ought to be no lack ; that is, the all-sufficiency 



348 APPENDIX. 

of the Lord Jesus Christ to save even the chief of sinners, and his 
readiness to receive them, when they come to him in the exercise of 
faith and a contrite spirit — his readiness to cleanse them in his aton- 
ing blood, to clothe them with his perfect righteousness, to justify 
them freely, to sanctify them by his Spirit, to adopt them into his fa- 
mily, and to crown them with eternal glory, should be set forth in the 
most clear and persuasive manner. The true nature of regeneration 
— -of evangelical faith, genuine repentance, and new obedience, 
should be carefully explained and illustrated — The danger of griev- 
ing away the Spirit of grace, by those with whom he is striving, and 
the danger of all delay in accepting the gospel offer, should be often 
brought into view. The peril to the unaw^akened and the careless, 
when others are anxious and pressing into the kingdom of God — the 
awful peril of passing a season of revival without sharing in its bless- 
ed effects, should often be pressed home, on those who remain at ease 
in their sins — There may be an excess of public or social exercises ; 
for neither an inquiring sinner nor a young convert, should spend so 
much of his time at public meetings, or more privately with Christian 
friends, as to leave him very little for serious meditations and prayer 
by himself. Yet certainly there ought to be many meetings, not only 
for preaching, but for conference and prayer — some in which experi- 
enced and estabhshed Christians should meet with inquirers ; some 
in which inquirers and young converts should meet by themselves, or 
with their pastor and an elder or two of the church, or other ju- 
dicious Christians ; and some, I think, in which the people of God 
should come together, chiefly by themselves, to pray for the continu- 
ance and increase of the heavenly influence that has been shed down 
around and upon them, and that it may eventuate in a large inga- 
thering of souls to the fold of Christ — Much, very much, it should be 
recollected, is to be hoped for from fervent, effectual and persevering 
prayer; and very httle to be expected, if this be wanting, let other 
means that are used be whatever they may. I am decidedly in favor 
of protracted meetings, if not unduly protracted. I think that we 
have scriptural examples of them, in the holy convocations of the old 
testament, and in the lengthened attendance of multitudes on the 
ministry of our blessed Saviour, as recorded in the Evangelists. But 
great care should be taken to prevent all abuse of these meetings, 
and to see that they are conducted with entire sobriety of behavior, 
and if possible with a pervading and deeply felt solemnity, from the 
beginning of thdm to their termination. Their happy effect, under 
the blessing of God, seems to result from their being adapted to keep 



APPENDIX. 2i9 

the solemn truths of the gospel, and the realities of eternity, before 
the view of the mind, long enough to make a deep and lasting im- 
pression — an impression not so easily effaced as that which is often 
made and lost, by the single-day exercises of the Sabbath. They are 
in fact, only a modification of the protracted sacramental solemnities, 
well known in Scotland, and in some parts of our country and church. 
To anxious seats, (a strange appellation) in a promiscuous congrega- 
tion, on which the awakened and alarmed are placed by themselves, 
to be addressed and prayed for separately, and to be gazed at by the 
whole assembly, I confess I am not friendly. I do not deny that 
they may have been used without injury, perhaps with some advan- 
tage, in certain places, and on particular occasions. But as a gene- 
ral measure they seem to me unnecessary, and seriously objectiona- 
ble. That the anxious should be specially addressed and prayed for, 
I not only admit, but consider as highly important. But this can 
surely be done, and I think to much greater advantage, after the pro- 
miscuous audience has retired, or in what I think still better, a meeting 
specially appointed for the purpose — Such a meeting I held weekly, 
for the students of the college at Princeton, in the revival there of 
which I have spoken. But anxious seats in a promiscuous assembly, 
seem to me far less calculated to ascertain the number and the indi- 
viduals who are truly and deeply impressed, than a meeting to which 
there is no motive to go, but a deeply felt anxiety of soul, and desire 
of relief — There is an ostentation about anxious seats, in an indis- 
criminate assemblage, which I am persuaded keeps some back, who 
are really laboring in spirit, and brings others there who feel very lit- 
tle J and the use of these seats has I think been, in some places, the 
first step to ulterior proceedings of a very exceptionable character — 
There ought to be as much private, individual conversation, between 
a pastor and those of his charge who are deeply convinced of their 
lost estate, and inquiring what they must do to be saved — as much of 
this, as his time will admit ; and here in particular he should call the 
elders of his church to his aid, and add to it the assistance of some 
other discreet and judicious Christians. But the conversation of 
awakened sinners with persons wanting prudence and experience, 
although perhaps not destitute of piety, has often done much harm, 
and should be guarded against as far as practicable — Books, as well 
as conversation, ought to be used, by those whose minds are labor- 
ing in spiritual things — especially when they have reached a state in 
which they have hope mingled with fear, in relation to the momentous 
inquiry whether they have passed from death to life, or not, My 



350 APPENDIX. 

"Gtuestions and Counsel," heretofore mentioned, were prepared for 
my pupils at Princeton, when they were conceiving hopes that they 
had become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Great care should be 
taken to deal faithfully, tenderly, and discreetly, with all who are in 
this situation. Besides the Bible, the daily and prayerful reading of 
which should be enjoined on all who are endeavoring to ascertain 
their rehgious state, the Works of our standard writers on the subjects 
of doctrinal and experimental religion, should be recommended, and 
as circumstances favor, diligently perused. I might add other re- 
marks, but I have already exceeded proper bounds, under this parti- 
cular. I cannot however omit to say, that during the whole of a re- 
vival, the solemn truth, that true conversion is a work of God, and 
not of men, ought to be made prominent, in all discourses, both pub- 
lic and private. 

4. I am to mention some of the errors and abuses which are too 
often witnessed, in a time of great and general excitement on the 
subject of religion. It may seem mysterious that God should permit 
a work of his own holy and blessed Spirit to be accompanied, mar- 
red and perverted by errors and abuses. But so it has been from the 
beginning. It appears from the 14th chapter of the first Epistle to 
the Corinthians, that in the time of the apostle Paul, there was such 
an abuse, even of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, that there 
was danger that at least the "ignorant and unbelievers" would draw 
the conclusion — and the Apostle intimates that it would not be an 
unnatural conclusion — that those who acted in the disorderly and ex- 
travagant manner which he describes, were "mad." Alas! how 
often, since the time of the apostles, have religious excitements been 
permitted to run into wild excesses, even greater and more pernicious 
than those which he rebuked. Such, it is well known, were witness- 
ed in some parts of our country, in the great revival in the time of 
Whitfield, though always discountenanced by him, and by all the 
discreet, pious, and distinguished ministers of the gospel, who co- 
operated with him. I have before me while I write, a pamphlet on 
this subject, written and published by the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, 
the first president of the college of New Jersey. The title of the 
pamphlet is too long for me to insert, but it is headed with the words 
" A display of God's special grace, in a familiar dialogue." The 
copy I have, was from a second edition, printed in this city, in 1743. 
and the whole design of the pubhcation avowedly is, to maintain 
that what then appeared was " a display of God's special grace ;'» 
and at the same time, to bear a most pointed testimony against all 



APPENDIX. 351 

the extravagances and errors by which it was attended ; and they 
were very much the same, in the substance of them, as have since 
appeared in our country, and are, at this time, exhibited in certain 
places. There is a recommendation of this work, called " A prefa- 
tory attestation," subscribed in Boston, under the date of August 10th, 
1742, by Benjamin Colman, Joseph Sewall, Thomas Prince, John 
Webb, Wilham Cooper, Thomas Foxcroft, and Joshua Gee. A 
similar attestation, accompanied the second edition, and is dated 
" Philadelphia, June 1st, 1743," and subscribed by Gilbert Tennent, 
William Tennent, Samuel Blair, Richard Treat, Samuel Finley, and 
John Blair. By this publication, the fathers of the Congregational 
and Presbyterian churches, whose names are attached to it, " being 
dead yet speak ;" and they speak as decidedly against some of the 
new measures now in vogue, as if it had been their immediate object 
to condemn them. At the time when the excesses, which were wit- 
nessed in Kentucky, about thirty years ago, began to appear, and 
which terminated most disastrously to the interests of vital piety, I 
advised the repubhcation and transmission to that region, of nume- 
rous copies of Mr. Dickinson's pamphlet. But this was not done ; 
and indeed before it could be done, those who needed it most, had 
gone beyond the reach of all reason or argument. They regarded 
themselves as the only truly enlightened men, and the exclusive 
friends of revivals of religion, and they looked with pity or contempt, 
on all who endeavored to counteract their fanaticism, and regarded 
and denounced them as cold hearted formalists and wretched hypo- 
crites. You are aware, I presume, of the result of this great reli- 
gious excitement. There were a considerable number, doubtless, 
who became truly pious. But Cumberland presbyterianism, Shaker- 
ism, Socinianism and Deism, reaped a large part of the harvest that 
grew up from the seed which was sown by the exclusive revival men 
at that time. Kentucky has not yet fully recovered from the injury 
which was done to her religious interests at this memorable period. 
It was followed by an open avowal and general prevalence of infidel 
principles, with all their mournful consequences, beyond any thing 
that had previously appeared. 

I cannot pretend to enumerate all, nor the half, of the errors broach- 
ed, and the abuses committed, in the times of religious excitement 
which have occurred in our country. The distinguishing doctrines, 
and the ecclesiastical order of our church, have, at such periods, al- 
ways suffered. The doctrines of God's sovereignty, original sin, the 
entire dependence of the sinner on the special influence of the Holy 



352 APPENDIX. 

Spirit in the work of regeneration and conversion, and justification 
solely by the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believing peni« 
tent, and received by faith alone, have almost invariably been either 
denied, or perverted and misrepresented, in a manner that was equi- 
valent to a denial. The order of our church has been disregarded — 
All who chose have become exhorters and leaders in social worship 
— not, in some places and on some occasions to the exclusion of 
women, even in promiscuous assemblies. The eldership of the 
churches, and indeed all church discipline, and all church judicatures 
have been disregarded, if they attempted to restrain or censure the 
intemperate zeal of those who considered themselves as more en- 
lightened, and more endowed with spiritual gifts and graces, than 
men, however long might have been their standing in the church, 
and eminent their piety, previously to the period of excitement. It 
has even happened that a minister who has led others into extrava- 
gance, has at length found himself left behind them ; and been consi- 
dered and treated as a mere formalist, for whose conversion prayer 
needed to be made, and has been made accordingly, in the social 
meetings of his former disciples. I have neither time nor inclination 
to specify the almost innumerable acts, of imprudence in speech and 
action — the harsh language addressed to individuals, privately and 
publicly, the disregard of decorum, and the introduction of novel and 
ostentatious practices, in the sanctuary itself — which have character- 
ized the advocates and leaders of new measures, in times of great 
religious excitement in our country. But there is one measure which 
seems to be pre-eminently new — for I have not heard of its ever hav- 
ing been adopted in our church, till very recently — of which I must 
take a little particular notice — It is the measure of admitting to the 
full communion of the church, persons whose supposed conversion 
has happened but a day or two ; or perhaps but a few hours, before 
their admission — persons, too, who had previously manifested no se- 
rious regard to religion, and who in some instances, had been even 
dissolute and profane. I can scarcely conceive of a practice more 
evidently calculated than this, eventually to bring dishonor on reli- 
gion, by fining the church with unsound professors, who will ulti- 
mately become open apostates, or at best demonstrate that they have 
never possessed a spark of vital piety. Who that has ever seen a 
general awakening of a congregation to the concerns of the soul 
but has had to lament, that numbers whose exercises, for a time, 
seemed to be as hopeful, perhaps even more hopeful, than those of 
almost diYiy others, eventually lost all their religious impressions, and 



APPENDIX, 353 

became as careless as they ever had been, and often far more hard 
and unimpressible, than in their former unsanctified state? Now, 
these individuals who thus lost their impressions, would assuredly 
have been taken into the communion of the church, if the new mea- 
sure under consideration had been in use, in the places where these 
instances have occurred. And what reason have we to beheve that 
sudden and hopeful impressions, and the appearance and profession 
of having experienced a change of heart, which now occur, will 
prove more solid and lasting than those of former times ? It is ad- 
mitted, that there may be, and will be, some false professors, after all 
the care and pains that can be taken to keep them out of the church. 
But they will be multiplied to an awful and reproachful extent, if 
some period of probation, and a good deal of sifting and close exa- 
mination be not employed to prevent the evil. The plea that is made, 
in favor of the mischievous practice in question, derived from what 
was done by the apostles on the day of Pentecost, is, in my apprehen- 
sion, of no avail. The cases supposed to be similar, are very unlike. 
A profession of Christianity, at that time, could not be made, but at 
the imminent risk of all earthly possessions, and of life itself. Be- 
sides, there was, among other extraordinary bestowments at that 
time, the gift of " discerning of spirits," and I have not heard that 
the new measure men have, as yet, pretended to this gift. Indeed 
the whole dispensation of the Holy Spirit, at that period, was extra- 
ordinary and miraculous ; and to draw a parallel between the occur- 
rences then, and those which now take place — a parallel extending to 
all the circumstances of the two cases — seems to me utterly unwar- 
rantable and exceedingly presumptuous. 

Numerous are the lamentable- consequences of the errors and 
abuses which arise in times of religious revival — They stop the pro- 
gress of revivals, as well as prevent the blessed results which might 
otherwise appear ; they bring revivals themselves into suspicion and 
reproach. Many think, that if they begin to yield to any serious 
impressions which they may feel when a revival begins, they will be 
carried away into all the excesses and delusions of which they have 
heard so mucli, and they shake off their seriousness, and harden their 
hearts against all warnings and exhortations. One of the worst con- 
sequences of the errors and abuses contemplated is, that they lead 
unsanctified men, especially worldly wise men, to think that all vital 
piety is delusive ; and that some decent regard to religious institu- 
tions and observances, with moral conduct, is religion enough, and 
indeed all the religion which is worthy of the name — Of this conse- 

33 



354 APPENDIX. 

quence of these errors and abuses the examples are multitudinous 
and most deplorable. New measure men reproach us with being 
enemies to revivals, but they are themselves the greatest real ene- 
mies to those displays of God's special mercy, that they ever have. 
Those who openly oppose and blaspheme them are recognized at 
once as enemies, treated as such, and injure but few beside them- 
selves. But these indiscreet and mistaken men, who claim to be, and 
are believed to be, the warmest friends of revivals of religion, are in 
the camp, are identified with the cause, and all that they advise and 
do is considered as belonging to the cause ; and they make it the sub- 
ject of reproach and aversion to the world at large. Now, if the 
world is to be converted to God by revivals of religion — which I fully 
believe, and think must be evident to reflecting minds — those who 
abuse and pervert revivals, whatever may be their pretensions or in- 
tentions, are really opposing the plan and purposes of God. They 
are therefore to be withstood, with decision and firmness, yet with 
meekness and prudence. Now and then, an individual of them, like 
Davenport in the time of Whitfield, and Marshall in Kentucky, may 
come out, and confess and bemoan their errors publicly — as every 
truly pious man who has been deluded, as they were, ought to do — 
but the instances of this frank and public acknowledgment of error, 
are rare ; and if they were not rare, the mischief done, is done irre- 
parably, before those who renounce their error, are brought to bewail 
and repent of the share which they have had in producing it. "We 
must oppose them, therefore, openly, and without fear or hesitation , 
and the sooner it is done after their operations have commenced, 
the better ; for after the delusion has proceeded to a certain length, it 
becomes like a resistless torrent, which nothing can stop, till it has 
spent its force. You have, therefore, in my judgment, done well, in 
preaching and publishing discourses intended to have an effect in cor- 
recting the errors and abuses to which I have referred ; and on the 
evening of my ministerial life, I willingly bear my solemn testimony 
against them, and am glad of an opportunity to record it, as here I 
do — ^May the Lord assist and bless you, in all your endeavors to plead 
his precious cause, and extend his blessed kingdom. So prays your 
friend and brother in the gospel of our dear and adored Redeemer. 

ASHBEL GREEN. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XVIII. 

From the REVEREND MOSES WADDEL, 

Late President of Franklin College, Athens, Georgia. 

Willington, South Carolina, Feb. 25, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

Your letter of 26th ult. is received, in which you request me to 
communicate to you some general account of the revivals of religion 
which have occurred under my observation, or within the sphere of 
my labors ; and also my opinion on some other subjects connected 
with them. 

Shortly after the revolutionary war ended, during the year 1784, 
there was a very solemn attention to religion excited in the minds of 
many persons in the congregation of Concord, where I was born, and 
in the adjacent churches of Bethany and Fourth Creek ; which were 
then under the pastoral care of that zealous, indefatigable and faith- 
ful minister of the gospel, the late Rev. James Hall, D. D. He then 
resided in Iredell county, North Carolina, where he also died a few 
years ago. This revival was brought about by no other means appa- 
rently than the divine blessing which attended the evangelical, expe- 
rimental and practical preaching of the pastor, together with his un- 
tiring attention to public catechising and family visitation of the 
churches under his care. In these two last mentioned duties, he was 
in labors more abundant than any pastor I have ever known. This 
period was marked with no noise or sensible disorder ; but a visible 
solemnity seemed to pervade the congregations, and a number were 
added to those churches of such as, I trust, have been and shall be 
saved. Sacramental occasions, I think, were attended with more 
reverential solemnity than any I have ever witnessed. 

During the years 1788, and 1789, there was a considerable atten- 
tion to religion in the (then) upper parts of Georgia, including the 
present counties of Wilkes, Elbert, Oglethorpe, Taliaferro, Hancock 
and Greene, in which last I then resided. The Baptist churches par- 
took largely of it, by the ministry of the Rev. Silas Mercer and Abra- 



B56 APPENDIX. 

ham Marshall. The Methodist churches were much increased by the 
ministry of the Rev. Hope Hull and others. The Presbyterian 
churches at that time in Georgia were " few and far between ;" yet 
by the missionary labors of the Rev. Daniel Thatcher, and the occa- 
sional and most refreshing visits of the Rev. John Springer, a consi- 
derable number was added to the Presbyterian church, and several 
congregations were organized. In these eventful and important 
changes, seasons of pubhc worship in our congregations were alto- 
gether noiseless, but deeply marked wite great solemnity. 

In the year 1802, what has been often called the great or old revival 
commenced in this state, and continued in some degree to appear at 
some places of public worship until in 1805. This was distinguished 
from all others I have ever seen in our church, in many respects. It 
was said to have commenced in Kentucky, and gradually passed on 
through Tennessee and North Carolina, into this state. The first 
time I attended a meeting of this kind was in July 1802, in one of our 
congregations called Nazareth. This meeting lasted four or five days, 
and was followed by the appointment of several others in different 
congregations within the bounds of our Presbytery, all of our ministers 
being then present. At that meeting many things occurred which I 
never had before witnessed ; such as, persons falling to the ground as 
suddenly as if they had been pierced through the heart by a bullet or 
a sword, while a sermon or exhortation was being delivered, which 
had nothing unusually animated or appropriate in it either as to mat- 
ter or manner. Some, when falling, would utter a shriek, and lie dur- 
ing hours still and silent ; others would weep and moan mournfully. 
The numbers who attended this meeting at Nazareth were variously 
computed by different persons, from five to eight thousand. I inclined 
to believe the latter more correct. I never have seen so many people 
collected at a place of worship before or since. This was a camp-meet' 
ing, and the first I ever saw, although I have witnessed a number since. 
Some of the following meetings of that kind, though not quite so 
numerously attended, yet exhibited more instances of persons falling 
than were exhibited there. I have never dared to say, that the ope- 
ration of God's Spirit did not produce those, or many of those wonder- 
ful effects which were witnessed there and elsewhere on such occa- 
sions ; nor would I presume to say that none of those ^^ bodily exercises,''^ 
as they were often called, did ultimately terminate in the saving con- 
version of the souls of those who were so wonderfully afficted ; but 1 
must say, with regret, that a number of those within the bounds of 
my personal acquaintance, who were prostrate on the ground for 



APPENDIX. 357 

several silent hours, did not afterwards give satisfactory evidence of 
their heart's having been savingly changed. 

The revival of religion which came more immediately and fully under 
my view, was that which took place in the town of Athens and state 
of Georgia, in the year 1826, at which time I was president of Franklin 
college. During five years preceding, a few professors of our small 
church, which had been organized there in 1820, had attended a 
weekly prayer meeting, and united in imploring the King of Zion to 
grant us an effusion of his Holy Spirit, and a season of refreshing 
from his presence. Two young men who had finished their academ- 
ical studies in the college not long before, sickened and were cut off 
by death, within one month. As one died in the town and the other 
in the neighboring part of the country, they were both visited by a 
number of their fellow students, most of whose minds were deeply 
affected by the sufferings and the sayings of their dying friends. A 
more solemn attention to the ministration of the word and ordinances 
soon became visible, and the solemn concern of many in the college 
for the salvation of their souls could no longer be concealed. Seri- 
ousness became almost universal in the members of the institution, 
and inhabitants of the town. It commenced in August. In Septem- 
ber and October twenty-seven students professed to have obtained a 
hope of the pardon of their sins, and about the same number of per- 
sons who resided in Athens and its vicinity ; all of whom I think at- 
tached themselves to some church. The succeeding year continued 
to be visited with cheering tokens of the Divine presence and blessing, 
not only in the college and Athens, where the revival commenced, but 
the attention to religion diffused itself, if I may so speak, to and through 
all the adjacent counties, and many more remote parts of the state. 
Its effects were soon felt in the different congregations of which Hope- 
well Presbytery consists, as well as those in the Baptist and Method- 
ist denominations. During this revival there was no disorder or unu- 
sual noise in any of our rehgious meetings, notwithstanding numbers 
were known to be under pungent convictions and deep distress of 
mind. 

To genuine revivals of religion every true minister and faithful fol- 
lower of Jesus Chrift must be a friend. The most proper and pro- 
mising means that man can use to produce and promote a revival, I con- 
ceive to be frequent and fervent prayer on the part of ministers, elders 
and professors in their closets, in the sanctuary, and in social meetings, 
consisting of smaller numbers of professing Christians. Ministers 
should insist often and earnestly on the nature and necessity of regen- 

33* 



358 APPENDIX. 

eration founded on the entire depravity of human nature — the abso- 
lute necessity of an interest in Christ's righteousness by an humble, 
appropriating faith, and of the quickening, enUghtening and sanctify- 
ing operations of the Holy Spirit to work in the soul, both to will and 
to do, of God's good pleasure. To insist upon and urge these topics 
upon the attention of his hearers, should be the evangelist's great em- 
ployment in the pulpit ; and afterwards to be undeniably importunate 
in imploring the blessing of Him loho alone can give the increase, upon 
his labors. This blessing should be sought daily in his closet. To 
converse privately with his hearers on experimental religion is a duty, 
to the neglect of which the want of ministerial usefulness and success 
is often attributable. Those pastors who have been most attentive to 
this duty as far as my observation has extended, have been the most 
wise in winning souls to Christ : and what is a revival of religion bu^ 
a season of gathering souls into the ark of safety ? 

Family visitation is also another most important duty of a minister 
whose heart's desire is to see the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his 
hand. On such occasions, personal interviews with the individuals 
composing the household, I have generally thought to be most useful. 
A general exhortation to the family, concluding always with social 
prayer in their behalf, is indispensable. Such visits endear the pastor, 
and inspire confidence in his ministrations and concern for their 
spiritual interest. 

Prayer for God's blessing on his word and ordinances, and frequent 
conversation on the experimental exercises of their souls in matters of 
religion with the members of the congregation and others, when oppor- 
tunity is afforded, together with such cautions and counsel as may ap- 
pear necessary, are also duties incumbent on ruling elders who desire 
to see religion revive among them, and the pleasure of the Lord to pros- 
per in their hands. 

"With respect to the manner of conducting a religious revival after 
it has pleased God to com mence one, I have witnessed various methods, 
some of a more public, others of a more private nature ; but I have 
observed when I visited and conversed with persons privately who 
were anxious for their souls, they appeared more unreserved in the 
statement of the exercises of their minds than when surrounded by a 
number of others, besides the elders of the church. I have thought 
that some persons whom I have seen attaching themselves to the 
church had been too easily and hastily admitted. 

May the blissful period speedily arrive, when " the knowledge of 
the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters fill and cover the sea" — 



APPENDIX. 359 

"when the righteousness of Zion shall go forth as brightness, and her 
salvation as a lamp that burneth," is the prayer, I doubt not, of your- 
self, and of 

Your friend and 

Fellow laborer in the Gospel, 

MOSES WADDEL. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XIX. 

Prom the REVEREND EDWARD D. GRIFFIN, D. D. 
President of Williams college, Williamstown, Massachusetts. 

Williams College, Jan, 20, 1832. 
Reverend and dear sir. 

You ask me for some account of the early American revivals in the 
modern series, particularly those in which I was permitted to take a 
part, and those which have occurred in this college ; together with my 
views of the proper means of conducting them and of guarding against 
the dangers incident to their abuse. 

Long before the death of Whitfield in 1770, extensive revivals in 
America had ceased. And except one in Stockbridge and some other 
parts of Berkshire county, Mass. about the year 1772 ; and one in the 
North Gtuarter of Lyme, Conn, about the year 1780 j and one in 
several towns of Litchfield county, Conn, about the^ year 1783 ; I 
know of none which occm'red aftei wards till the time of which I am 
to speak. 

About the year 1792 commenced three series of events of sufficient 
importance to constitute a new era. That yesiY the blood began to 
flow in Europe, in that contest which, with short intervals, was des- 
tined to destroy the " man of sin" and to introduce a happier form of 
society and the glorious state of the Church. That year was estab- 
lished at Kettering in England, the first in the continuous series of 
societies which have covered the whole face of the Protestant world 
and introduced the age of missions and of active benevolence. And 



360 APPENDIX. 

that year or the year before began the unbroken series of American 
revivals. There was a revival in North Yarmouth, Me. in 179L In 
the summer of 1792 one appeared in Lee, in the county of Berkshire. 
The following November, the first that I had the privilege of witness- 
ing showed itself on the borders of East Haddam and Lyme, Conn, 
which apparently brought to Christ about a hundred souls. Since 
that time revivals have never ceased. I saw a continued succession 
of heavenly sprinklings at New Salem, Farmington, Middlebury, and 
New Hartford, (all in Connecticut,) until, in 1799, 1 could stand at my 
door in New Hartford, Litchfield county, and number fifty or sixty 
congregations laid down in one field of divine wonders, and as many 
moie in different parts of New England. By 1802 revivals had 
spread themselves through most of the western and southern states ; 
and since that time they have been familiar to the whole American 
people. 

I preached my first sermon at New Hartford Oct. 26, 1794. In the 
fall of 1795 a revival commenced, which in the course of the winter 
apparently brought about fifty to the knowledge of the truth. The 
neighboring towns were not then visited: but in October 1798 a great 
revival began at West Simsbury on the east, and soon extended to 
Torringford on the west, and we were left like a parched island in the 
midst of surrounding floods. The agonies of that hour can never be 
told. First one, and then two, and afterwards more met me in my 
study for prayer, and the wresthngs were such as I had never witness- 
ed in a meeting before. On the 4th of November I went to the house 
of God, saying as I went, "My soul, wait thou only, only, only upon 
God, for my expectation is from him." During the morning ser- 
vice I scarcely looked at the audience, and cared not whether they 
were asleep or awake, feeling that the question of a revival did not lie 
between me and them, but was to be settled in heaven. In the after- 
noon, in alluding to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by 
and we were left, and could hardly hope for another visit so soon, and 
to the awful prospects of sinners in the middleof life if another revival 
should not come in twelve or fifteen years, I seemed to take an eter- 
nal leave of heads of famihes out of Christ; I came near falling; I 
thought I should be obliged to stop ; but I was carried through. The 
next day it was apparent that a revival had commenced ; a dozen heads 
of families of the most respectable class were under conviction ; and in 
the course of the winter and the following year a hundred were hope- 
fully added to the Lord. The last time that I heard that 4th of No- 
vember referred to at New Hartford, I was told that between forty and 



APPENDIX. 361 

fifty of those who had been received to the church, dated back their 
convictions to that day. 

In October 1800 the health of my family and the peremptory advice 
of physicians compelled me to leave New Hartford. I spent the win- 
ter in Orange, New Jersey. A time of refreshment from the presence 
of the Lord was afforded us, and about fifty were added to the church. 
In October ISOI I was installed at Newark. A revival commenced 
the following winter, which continued through 1802 and extended into 
1803. In my journal, under the date of Feb. 16, 1803, 1 find a hope 
expressed that the number of converts amounted to a hundred. The 
neighboring ministers were revived, and in the spirit of prayer went 
forth two and two to visit the congregations, spending a day and 
holding two meetings in a place, and continuing out six days. These 
means began to be blessed as early as January 1803, and that year 
about twenty contiguous congregations experienced the mighty power 
of God. 

In the spring of 1807 some seriousness appeared in Newark, and a 
very few obtained hopes ; but the impression passed off. In the sum- 
mer some half a dozen Christians were much exercised for a revival, 
and, as it appeared afterwards, several sinners were nightly carried 
in their dreams to the judgment seat, who threw off their impressions 
by day. In the latter part of August a great revival broke out at 
Elizabethtown on the south, and at Orange on the west. The Friday 
before the first Sabbath in September, (which was our communion 
Sabbath,) was observed by the church in Newark as a day of fasting 
and prayer. On Sabbath morning a meeting was held expressly to 
pray for a blessing on the word that day. Some went with little im- 
pression, who found themselves and their brethren lost in that desire, 
and returned with a strong hope that such a blessing would follow. 
The next day I found several Christians saying that they never had 
had such a sense of the truths brought out on the Sabbath before. 
At a meeting in the evening I saw and felt such tokens of the divine 
presence, that I had no longer a doubt that a revival had begun. It 
had begun with mighty power. In all such seasons, if any feeling 
had been more prominent than the rest, it was a deep sense of abso- 
lute dependence : but never had I had so deep a sense of this before. 
I could not keep at home ; I was constantly going from house to 
house ; and yet I felt that I was doing nothing but holding a torch to 
the tinder which God had prepared. The work extended to about 
the same number of congregations as before, and by the same means, 
tha ^linisters going out two and two as in the former case, In New- 



362 APPENDIX. 

ark ninety-eight joined the church atone time, and about two hun- 
dred in all. By this time it was understood why a greater sense of 
dependence had been granted : the work was to be greater than I had 
ever seen before. 

The first of June 1809, 1 was removed by the Providence of God 
and by the advice of my brethren, to the Theological Seminary at 
Andover, and to a connection with the infant church in Park street, 
Boston, as a stated preacher. The house in Park street not being 
finished, and the Rev. Mr. French of Andover dying that summer, 
I took the pulpit and supplied it till winter for the benefit of the fa- 
mily. It pleased God to pour out his Spirit. A revival of very con- 
siderable extent ensued, calculated to fit that atmosphere to be 
breathed by the sons of the prophets. One of the subjects of the 
work, an only child, went out afterwards a missionary's wife to India, 
and the affectionate parents, I have been informed, were heard to say, 
they never were so happy in their lives. 

The church in Park street having become discouraged by several 
unsuccessful applications for a pastor, I thought it my duty, in the 
spring of 1811, to devote myself wholly to them. For four years we 
had a continual sprinkling, but things were not ripe for a heavenly 
shower. The congregation in Newark having amicably divided, and 
the second congregation being vacant, they solicited me in the spring 
of 1815 to return to them. There were circumstances which led me 
to believe that such was the will of God. I went about the first of 
June. In December, 1816, a powerful revival began in the two con- 
gregations, and about the same time in some neighboring towns, 
which continued through most of the following year. I have no 
document to show the numbers that were added to the churches. 

In September 1821, I was appointed president of this college ; and 
the indications of the divine will were so clear that I durst not refuse. 

Thus, my dear sir, I have wandered over the first part of the 
ground which your partial friendship assigned me, and will now con- 
fine myself to the more important history of God's dealings with this 
institution. 

It was from Litchfield county that the spirit of the new era gradu- 
ally crept upon this college. For near seven years after the charter 
was obtained, the professors in all the classes amounted only to five ; 
until, in February 1800, two of the members professed religion in 
Litchfield county, where they had been the subjects of one of the re- 
vivals of 1799. At the next commencement one of them graduated, 
and another from the same revivals entered. These two were the 



APPENDIX. 363 

only professors in the classes, until joined by four more from the revi- 
vals of the same county the following spring, which made an import- 
ant change in the religious character of the college. The next class 
that entered were nearly half professors, who in their senior year took 
part in the first revival. 

The earliest revival known in this town commenced in the spring 
of 1805, and continued between two and three years. It soon ex- 
tended to the college, where five began to hope. In the spring of 
1806 a new impulse was given to the work. That spring was made 
memorable to the college by the admission to its bosom of those dis- 
tinguished youth, Samuel John Mills and Gordon Hall. Mills had 
been prepared by the revival at Torringford, Litchfield county, in 
1798-9, and he joined a class which contained such men as James 
Richards and Robert Chauncey Robbins. He entered into the revi- 
val with all his heart ; and in the course of the summer eight or ten 
of that class became subjects of the work, and one or two others, 
among whom was Gordon Hall, who joined the church in Williams- 
town that same year. The work seems to have continued beyond 
the summer ; for one account says, "Thirteen were added to the 
church, of whom nine became ministers of the gospel. Ten others 
were supposed to be subjects of the revival." Another account, 
drawn up in 1827, says, "Besides those who became church members 
from the classes that graduated in 1805, 6, 7, 8, 9, about seventeen. 
have since become professors of religion." 

Mills had devoted himself to the cause of missions from the com- 
mencement of his new existence, and by the influence of that revival 
he was enabled to diffuse his spirit through a choice circle who raised 
this college to the distinction of being the birth place of American 
missions. In the spring of 1808 they formed a secret society, to ex- 
tend their influences to other colleges, and to distinguished individ- 
uals in different parts of the country. One of them first roused the 
missionary energies of Pliny Fisk, who afterwards died in Palestine. 
In the autumn of that year, in a beautiful meadow on the banks of the 
Hoosack, these young Elijahs prayed into existence the embryo of 
American missions. In the fall of 1809, Mills and Richards and 
Robbins carried this society to Andover, where it roused the first mis- 
sionary band that went out to India in 1812, and where it is still ex- 
erting a mighty influence on the interests of the world. In that band 
were Gordon Hall and Luther Rice of this college. Richards soon 
followed and laid his bones in India. Mills and his coadjutors were 
the means of forming the American Board of Commissioners for 



364 APPENDIX. 

Foreign Missions, the American Bible Society, the United Foreign 
Missionary Society, and the African School under the care of the 
Synod of New York and New Jersey ; besides all the impetus given 
to domestic missions, to the Colonization Society, and to the general 
cause of benevolence in both hemispheres. Such were the fruits 
of the revivals in Litchfield county, and of the first revival in this 
college. 

In January, 1812, another revival commenced in town under the 
preaching of Samuel Nott, one of the first five missionaries who went 
out that year to India. In April and May it extended to the college, 
chiefly to the three lower classes. Twenty-four were hopefully con- 
verted then, and a number afterwards. Another account says, 
" Twenty-one were added to the church, of whom thirteen have be- 
come ministers of the o-ospel. Several others felt the power of this 
revival, and their lives have since proved that the effects were not 
transient." 

In June, 1815, the first president left the college. His parting ser- 
mon had a great effect on the students. A third revival followed. 
Fifteen were hopefully renewed in the course of the summer. Ano- 
ther account says, " Twelve were added to the church, of whom nine 
became ministers of the gospel. Several others received very salu- 
tary impressions, whose lives have since shown the value of this revi- 
val to them." 

About the first of March, 1824, a fourth revival appeared to com- 
mence in the person of WilUam Hervey, now a missionary in India. 
Twelve or fourteen used to attend the inquiry meetings. Several 
obtained hopes who endured but for a time. Hervey alone perse- 
vered. Of the others that were impressed, one obtained a hope in the 
summer of 1825, and is now a minister of the gospel; another joined 
the church after he graduated, and is now a professor in the institution. 
When college came together in October, 1825, the arrows of the 
Almighty stuck in several hearts. Some old hopes were scattered to 
the winds. A fifth revival ensued. During the latter part of the 
term the powder was astonishingly great, affecting almost the whole 
college. Of eighty-five students, full seventy thought themselves 
Christians. The impression was kept up through the -spring term, 
but there it ended. In this revival thirty-five experienced hopes, 
some of which were soon renounced. For aught I know, from 
twenty-five to twenty-seven are hoping still, and another who re- 
lapsed has apparently been recovered. Twelve or thirteen are in th^ 



APPENDIX. 365 

ministry or looking forward to it. Of these, Hollis Reed went with 
Hervey to India; two belong to a company of ministers who, in the 
spirit of missions, have located themselves for life in the new settle- 
ments beyond the Mississippi ; and two or three others have been 
pondering on a missionary life. 

The sixth revival began about the first of March, 1827, and conti- 
nued till vacation. It spent its chief force on the two lower classes, 
from which six professed religion. 

In October, 1828, some seriousness appeared, which continued 
through that and the next term. Nine visited me under some impres- 
sions. Inquiry meetings were set up. One obtained a hope which 
was soon renounced. Not an individual held out. Three of them 
however have since given evidence of a saving change. 

A seventh revival appeared to commence in November 1829. 
That month two gave evidence of piety who still continue. High 
hopes were entertained, and a determination was taken to pray till 
the blessing came. Meetings for prayer, accompanied with consider- 
able excitement, were kept up through the term, and through the 
long winter vacation, and through the spring term. I attended till 
broken off by sickness in April, 1830. In the course of the winter 
two more expressed hopes, one at least of which proved doubtful. 

On the evening of January 6th, 1831, I was sent for to visit Troy, 
where the first in the series of protracted meetings in this region had 
lately been held, and where a great revival had begun. I went on 
the 8th and returned on the 19th. Something hopeful had begun to 
appear in town before I left home, and on Friday evening the 21st I 
went to a meeting to tell the people what I had seen. One of the 
students, hearing that a statement was to be made, went, and was 
awakened. The next week we had a four days meeting, beginning 
with a fast and ending with the communion Sabbath. This was the 
second protracted meeting in the series, and was attended with an 
evident blessing. A revival began in town. During vacation two 
of the students obtained hopes here, and two more in Troy. When 
college came together on the 10th of February, it was a time of great 
solemnity. The month of March was full of power. By the 2d of 
April, twenty, including those already mentioned, were apparently 
rejoicing in truth. Of these, four soon renounced their hope ; the 
^ther sixteen, for aught I know, still endure, and the greater part ap- 
pear like devoted Christians. 

These are the eight revivals which the pity of heaven has granted 
34 



366 APPENDIX. 

to this college in twenty-six years, five of which, including two of 
less extent, have appeared in seven years.* 

The means employed in these revivals have been but two, — the 
clear presentation of divine truth, and prayer : nothing to work upon 
the passions but sober, solemn truth, presented, as far as possible, in 
its most interesting attitudes, and closely applied to the conscience. 
The meetings have been still and orderly, with no other signs of 
emotion in the hearers than the solemn look and the silent tear. We 
have been anxiously studious to guard against delusive hopes and to 
expose the windings of a deceitful heart, forbearing all encourage- 
ment except what the converts themselves could derive from Christ 
and the promises, knowing that any reliance on our opinion was 
drawing comfort from us and not from the Saviour. We have not 
accustomed them to the bold and unqualified language that such a 
one is converted, but have used a dialect calculated to keep alive a 
sense of the danger of deception. For a similar reason we have kept 
them back from a profession about three months. 

Sinners have been constantly urged to immediate repentance, and 
every excuse has been taken away. At the same time we have not 
denied or concealed their dependence for the sake of convincing them 
of their obligations. On the contrary, we have esteemed it vital to 
urge their dependence in order to drive them from all rehance on their 
own strength, and to make them die to every hope from themselves. 
All that you can possibly gain by flattering their independence, is to 
extort a confession of their obligations ; for as to matter of fact, they 
will not submit until they are made w^illingin the day of God's power. 
And if you can fasten upon them their obligations without that false- 
hood which robs God of his glory, pray let it be done. This we 
have found it possible to do. We have shown them that their obli- 
gations rest on their faculties, and are as reasonable and as complete 
as though the thing required was merely to walk across the floor ; 
that their faculties constitute a natural abihty, that is, a full power to 

April 18, 1832. There is at the preserit moment the ninth revival going on in 
college. On the 18th of January we had a fast in town to pray for siich a blessing 
in the college and congregation. Aiter that I recommended it to the students who 
stayed in vacation, to hold meetings for prayer. The third which they held was 
on the 1st of February, and I was invited to attend. I found the meeting uncom- 
monly interesting and encouraging. 1 was then laboring under the commence- 
ment of a disease which confined me till near the middle of March. In that inter- 
val a protracted meeting was held in town and a revival commenced there, and the 
spirit of prayer was greatly increased in college and a spirit of inquiry began 
among the impenitent. The first hopeful conversion in college took place on the 
16th of March, two days before I renewed my public labors in the house of God* 
There are now seven students who venture to hope that they have " passed from 
death unto life." Every thing is conducted with perfect stillness and decorum. 



APPENDIX. 367 

love and serve God, if their hearts were loell disposed, leaving nothing 
in the way but a bad heart, for which they are wholly to blame if there 
is any blame in the universe ; that sin can rest no where but in the 
heart, and that if you drive it beyond the heart you drive it out of ex- 
istence ; that they alone create the necessity for God to conquer them, 
and to decide whether he will conquer them or not ; that it is an ever- 
lasting blot on creation thst God has to speak a second time to induce 
creatures to love him, much more that he has to constrain them by 
his conquering power; and yet after all his provisions and invitations, 
— after he has sent his Son and his Spirit to save them,^ — after he has 
opened the door wide and stands with open arms to receive them, — 
they will still break their Way to perdition if his almighty power do 
not prevent ; that by their own fatal obstinacy they are cast entirely 
upon his will ; that they are wholly in his hands,— that if he frown 
they die, if he smile they live forever. This is the grandest of all 
means to press them out of themselves, to cast them dead and help- 
less upon God, to make them die that they may be made alive. Con- 
ceal their dependence in order to make them feel their obligations ! 
The maddest purpose that ever was conceived, unless the thing re- 
quired is to be done in their own strength. And then why do you pray 
for the Spirit ? "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct 
thy paths." But in this greatest of all his works he is chiefly jealous 
for his honor. He will not hear your prayers for a revival, if, when 
you go out from his presence, you tell sinners that he has nothing to 
do in the business but to convict, — that the god which regenerates is 
light. If there is any truth sweeter than all the rest, it is this, that 
we are absolutely, totally, and eternally dependent on his sanctifying 
grace, and that he will have all the glory ; — if any view of God more 
supporting and encouraging than all the rest, it is that which the 
Christian takes when he feelingly says, "My soul, wait thou only 
upon God, for my expectation is from him." Take any thing else 
away, but take not away my God. This is the last truth that I will 
give up till I yield my reason and my immortal hopes. If there is any 
truth in defence of which I would po on a crusade — or, better still 
in support of which I would go to the stake, — it is this. If you see 
this denial shut up heaven, and then, instead of the Holy Ghost, you 
see revivals carried on by human devices operating on the passions? 
there is more cause to mourn than to rejoice. 

I do not object to all measures to arrest attention, to move mode- 
rately the imagination and passions, and to put the whole man into 
action towards God and his revealed truths. I am no advocate for 



368 APPENDIX. 

addressing men as intellectual statues. But there is always some 
danger in working on this part of the human constitution by other 
means than truth set in its most affecting light and pressed home 
upon the conscience, and at no period of existence is the danger so 
great as at the crisis referred to. The imagination and passions are 
useful handmaids ; but when they assume dominion, they make a 
religion of bad proportions, if not altogetker delusive. This the his- 
tory of religious enthusiasm shows on every page. 

All this is known to the educated in our country ; and if any of 
them have adopted measures calculated to give undue preponderance 
to imagination and passion, it has been, for the most part, to answer 
other purposes of religious policy. Much has been done of late to 
lead awakened sinners to commit themselves, in order to get them over 
that indecision and fear of man which have kept them back, and to 
render it impossible for them to return with consistency. For this 
purpose they are called upon to request public prayers by rising, to 
come out into the aisle in token of their determination to be for God, 
to take particular seats, called, in bad English, anxious seats,^ to come 
forward and kneel in order to be prayed for, and in very many in- 
stances, to promise to give themselves to religion at once. For much 
the same purpose converts are called upon to take particular seats, 
and thus virtually to make a profession in a day, and are hurried into 
the church in a few weeks. These measures, while they are intended 
to commit the actors, are meant also to awaken the attention of others, 
and to serve as means of general impression. I would not make a 
man an offender for a word ; but when these measures are reduced 
to a system and constantly repeated, — when, instead of the former 
dignity of a Christian assembly, it is daily thrown into a rambling 
state by these well meant maneuvres, — it becomes a solemn question 
whether they do not give a disproportionate action to imagination and 
passion, and lead to a reliance on other means than truth and prayer, 
and on other power than that of God. I have seen enough to con- 
vince me that sinners are very apt to place a self-righteous depend- 
ence on this act of commitment. " I have taken one step, and now I 
hope God will do something for me," is language which I have 
heard more th|in once. Against any promises express or implied, I 
utterly protest. If they are promises to do any thing short of real 
submission, they will bring up a feeling that more the sinner is not 
bound to do : if they are promises to submit, they are made in the 
sinner's own strength, and are presumptuous. The will, which 
form,s resolutions and utters promises, cannot control the heart. Sin- 



APPENDIX. 369 

ners are bound to love God at once, but they are not bound to pro- 
mise beforehand to do it, and rely on their own will to change their 
heart. This is self-dependence. They are bound to go forth to their 
work at once, but they are not bound to go alone : it is their privilege 
and duty to cast themselves instantly on the Holy Ghost, and not to 
take a single step in their own strength. In these extorted promises 
there is another evil, — the substitution of human authority for the di- 
vine. It is right for Christians to urge upon sinners the obligation 
of immediate submission, and they cannot enforce this too much by 
the authority of God ; but to stand over them and say, "Come, now 
promise ; promise this moment ; do promise ; you must promise ; 
promise and I will pray for you, — if you dont I wont ;" is overpow- 
ering them with human authority, and putting it in the room of the 
divine. 

Sometimes these new measures are plainly intended to work on the 
imagination and passions. When, in addition to all the rest, a whole 
assembly are called upon to kneel, what is this but a measure in- 
tended merely for effect ? No new truth is thereby conveyed to the 
mind. Truth has to do with reason and conscience, but these tactics 
with imagination and passion first, and afterwards with a stupid reli- 
ance on forms, as the whole history of the church attests. Is there 
no danger that we may again " be corrupted from the simplicity that 
is in Christ?" The frequent repetition of these imposing ceremo- 
nies will destroy their effect, and leave us with forms instead of feel- 
ings. It was in this way that the primitive church sunk into all the 
dead formalities of the church of Rome. The ceremonies were first 
adopted because they were thought to be impressive. In time they 
ceased to impress, and then the magnificent and garnished body of 
worship was accepted for the soul. This is the certain course of 
fallen nature. It is dangerous to work in human inventions upon 
the forms of our worship. He who made and united the body and 
soul, best knows what forms are adapted to our nature. The more 
simple they are the less they draw the mind off* from God and truth. 

God forbid that I should speak against protracted meetings, but I 
will speak against their abuse. In this imperfect world it is almost 
impossible that such a stimulating institution should not be abused. 
It is so much easier to enter into the excitements of a protracted meet- 
ing than to " tug at the oar of prayer" in secret, or even to exercise 
a holy heart: it is so much easier to move the people by these impas- 
sioned forms than to bring down the Holy Ghost by the struggles of 
faith ; that there is the utmost danger that these meetings will be put 

34^ 



StO APPENDIX. 

in the room of secret prayer and of the Holy Ghost and even of per- 
sonal religion. When I see them relied on to produce revivals w^ith- 
out previous prayer, and a boast made that Christians w^ere stupid 
when they began ; w^hen I see a revival of ten days produce its 
hundred converts, and the people, who were stupid before, relapse 
into the same stupidity at the end of the protracted meeting ; I can- 
not but say, How different are these from the revivals of the last forty 
years, which were preceded by long agonies of desire and prayer, 
and which transmitted their spirit to many succeeding months. 

There is another difference I fear in many cases. In those revivals 
unwearied pains were taken to lay open the divine character in all its 
benevolence, holiness, and justice ; to present the divine government 
in all its righteousness and purity, in all its sovereignty and covenant 
faithfulness, in all its reasonableness and benignity and awful terror ; 
to lay open the carnal heart, festering with every evil passion, and the 
horrid nature of sin, with its infinite demerits , to explain the great 
provision of the atonement and the terms of acceptance with God ; to 
bring out the mercy which melts in the Gospel and to press home the 
invitation ; to show the reasonableness and sincerity of God in all hjs 
treatment of sinners, and the unreasonableness of their obstinacy in 
rejecting the Gospel. All these and many other topics furnished mat- 
ter always new and always affecting to the conscience. It was all 
regarded as an exhibition of God, in his character, government, and 
relations to men ; and if we could make a clear manifestation of God, 
we felt a confidence in leaving the issue in the hands of that Spirit 
whose office work it is to take of the things of God and show them to 
men. But now I fear that in many instances there is so much reliance 
on these newly invented means of impression, that the truths of God 
are but very imperfectly brought out or even studied ; dependance 
being placed on a few topics of exhortation, without the i^easons which 
the truths of the universe furnish. The consequence must be that the 
people will be left in ignorance, with a high susceptibihty of irregular 
excitement, and exactly fitted, should more sober habits return, to fill 
the ranks of the most extravagant sectaries, — the same that happened 
in New England some eighty years ago. 

I have no fellowship with harsh or violent measures ; such as ab- 
ruptly telling a professor that she has no religion and is going direct- 
ly to hell, (merely because she is cold ;) and when she is horror struck 
and begs you to pray for her, tearing yourself away and saying, I loooit 
pray for you, and breaking out of the room, leaving her in agonies on 
the floor ; all to shake her off from dependance on you, but really 
endangering her reason and life. 



APPENDIX. 371 

Nor have I any more complacency in public personalities ; such as 
calling people by name in prayer or preaching ; holding up certain 
neighborhoods as subjects of public prayer on account of their special 
wickedness or neglects ; and worse than all, dehberately laboring to 
make sinners angry, in order to show them how they hate God and 
his people and his truth ; thus doing evil that good may come. 

" Let your women keep silence in the churches," says Paul ; " for 
it is not permitted unto them to speak. — Jlnd if they will learn any thing, 
let them ask their husbands at home ; for it is a shame for women to 
speak in the church."* They may not even make public inquiries 
after truth. " Let the women learn in silence with all subjection ; but 
I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, 
but to be in silence."! The contexts will show that the church refer- 
red to was not a judicatory, but a common Christian assembly for in- 
struction and worship ; and the reasons assigned for the prohibition 
apply as much to public prayers di^io public teaching, and certainly as 
much as to public inquiries after truth. And prayers are public in any 
assembly of men and women collected for devotion. It is not neces- 
sary, to make it public, that the assembly should be in the sanctuary 
or on the sabbath. The primitive Christians had no sanctuary, and 
often held those assembhes of which Paul speaks on other days of 
the week. Wherever the sexes are mixed up in an assembly for social 
prayer, there the prohibition applies. Nor is this against our mothers 
and wives and sisters and daughters. They will gain more respect 
and influence by keeping in the place which nature and nature's God 
assigned them, than by breaking forth as Amazons into the department 
of men. 

From these excesses two special evils are sure to follow ; one among 
the ignorant, the other among the learned and refined. That among 
the ignorant is gross, palpable disorder. It is impossible that the local 
scenes of the last six years should have been enacted, and that the 
events of the last year should have given currency so wide to some of 
them, without producing among the ignorant outbreaking disorder 
somewhere. These fruits, I hope, have not yet extensively appeared ; 
but a late scene which has been described to me as " a perfect revel 
. of fanaticism,'' may serve as an example. Among other excesses, 
when the awakened were called out into the aisle, some women found 
themselves converted, and in the midst of a crowded assembly, and 
with a loud voice, began to pray for their husbands. And this was 
taken, by men hitherto deemed sober, — perhaps too sober, — as proof 
of the extraordinary descent of the Holy Spirit. Such disorders, and 

* 1 Cor : xiv. 34, 35. t 1 Tim : ii. 11, 12. 



372 APPENDIX. 

worse than these, will infaUibly spread themselves all abroad, if minis- 
ters and distinguished members of the church do not combine in ear- 
nest to check present measures. Human nature must cease to be 
human nature if this is not the result. The other evil referred to is, 
that these excesses, (I speak not of the disorders,) prejudice men of 
learning and taste against revivals, and arm the influence of society 
against them. And thus while they throw discredit on the most pre- 
cious of God's works and obscure his glory where it was chiefly to be 
shown, they lay stumbhng blocks before the blind over which miUions 
will fall into hell. Let the attention of the world be aroused by every 
hallowed means ; let the imagination and passions be wrought upon 
as far as the most sweet and solemn and awful truths of God csn 
move them ; let every knee be pressed to the earthin prayer, and every 
authorized tongue be strained with entreaties to dying men ; let the 
whole operation be as impressive, as irresistible, as love andj truth 
and eloquence can make it : but O, for the honor of Christ and his 
Spirit, and in pity to the cultivated millions of our race, let revivals be 
conducted with order and taste, and shun every thing by which our 
brethren may be offended or made to fall. 
I am, dear sir, 
With every sentiment of affection, 

Your friend and brother. 

E.D. GRIFFIN. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XX. 

From the REVEREND HENRY DAVIS, D. D. 
Late President of Hamilton college, Clinton, N. Y. 

Clinton, J^,Y.,^ug. 25, 1S33. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

It gives me pleasure to learn that a second edition of your Lectures 
on religious Revivals is called for. I cheerfully comply with your 
tequest to furnish you with an account of some of the revivals which 
have fallen under my observation ; and of those especially which I 
have witnessed in those seminaries of learning with which I have 
been connected. This I felt a desire to do before, in the letter with 
my signature, found in the appendix to your Lectures already publish- 
ed. But owing to circumstances, which it is not now necessary to 
mention, I judged it, at that time, inexpedient. 

It is a fact, not unknown to you, that I have never sustained the 
office of a pastor of a church. My labors have been mostly devoted 
to the services of colleges. My experience on this subject has been 
chiefly within their walls. It has not, therefore, been as diversified as 
that of a pastor of a church in different circumstances, whose duty 
leads him to an immediate intercourse with people of various ranks 
and conditions, and of all ages. But in the limited sphere in which it 
hath pleased God that I should move, it hath also pleased him in 
mercy to grant me the privilege of bearing testimony to many won- 
derful displays of the power and riches of his grace. 

The first revival of religion which came within my observation was 
in the place of my birth — East Hampton, Suffolk county, on Long 
Island, in this state. This town has been highly favored. It was 
selected by God as a theatre, on which he was marvellously to display 
the conquering power of his grace. Its three first ministers (James, 
Hunting, Buell,) were all learned, able, and devoted men ; and the 
period of their united ministry was one hundred and fifty-four years. 
The first considerable revival of religion in the place occurred in 
1741-2, apparently through the instrumentality of Davenport. Not- 



374 APPENDIX. 

withstanding the many untoward and ever to be lamented circum- 
stances attending this revival, about sixty were added to the church 
soon after the settlement of Dr. Buell, 1746. By his efforts and faith- 
ful preaching, harmony was in a good degree restored, and as was 
believed by those then hving, consequences lasting and most disas- 
trous prevented. In 1749, God again revived his work to some 
extent, principally among the young. But the year 1764 was sig- 
nally distinguished as a season of God's gracious visitation. Many 
more than one hundred, it was behoved, were made alive from the 
dead. Ninety-nine were admitted to the communion of the church on 
one Sabbath. 

The revival which I witnessed took place in 1785 ; a few years sub- 
sequent to the close of the struggle of our fathers for independence. 
After such a long and alarming season of religious apathy as had 
prevailed throughout our country, it was a novel, and could not but 
also be an affecting, scene. I was then in early youth — at the age of 
fifteen — and the impression of the passing events upon my mind is 
still well nigh as strong and fresh in my memory as the events of 
yesterday. Dr. Buell was eminently a man of God. The subjects, 
which evidently were uppermost in his thoughts, and which lay with 
most interest on his heart, were the glory of God and the salvation of 
souls. He entered upon the public service of his Master about the 
commencement of the memorable work of 1740-1. He was the inti- 
mate friend of Brainard, and acted a prominent part in the transactions 
of that day. He has related to me events which then occurred, and 
in which he was personally interested, which filled me with surprise, 
I might almost say, with astonishment ; and which I could not then 
have believed, had not my information come from a man whose vera- 
city could not be questioned. He was one of the very few of those 
foremost in that work, whose subsequent labors were so much 
blessed in the proper sense of the term. At the time of entering Yale 
college, it was said to me by Dr. Stiles, after reading a letter of intro- 
duction to him from Dr. Buell, "This man has done more good than 
any other man who ever stood on this continent." Whatever may be 
thought of the opinion of Dr. S., no one well acquainted with the 
history of Dr. Buell will hesitate to say that his labors were eminently 
useful. He was a man of ardent temperament, and a laborious stu- 
dent. With the history of the church and the writings of the Fathers 
he was intimately acquainted, and although not distinguished by a 
talent for discrimination, or by argumentative powers, he was a tho- 
roughly read and learned theologian. He embraced cordially and 



APPENDIX. 375 

preached with great boldness and emphasis the characteristic doc- 
trines of the school of Calvin. The excesses of his own early labors, 
and those of his associates, he had reviewed with cool and prayerful 
dehberation ; and he looked upon them with humihation and regret. 
But never had he cause for regret, as had most of his coadjutors, that 
he had erred in doctrine as well as practice. Here permit me to re- 
mark that except in seasons of revival, he had little intercourse with 
his people. At other times, unless in cases of sickness, which he 
scarcely ever neglected, he seldom made a visit or even a call. But 
the door of his study was always open, and there he was ever ready 
to impart counsel and instruction. At rehgious conferences, (or 
prayer meetings as they were then called) although present at hun- 
dreds myself, I have no recollection, as I have down from that to this 
time frequently remarked, of ever seeing him present but in a single 
instance. Compared with this fact, the practice of ministers at the 
present period furnishes proof of the remark that men change with 
times ; and the change in this respect must be a matter of rejoicing 
provided it is not carried to the opposite extreme. The fact itself 
clearly illustrates another truth, viz: that the success and usefulness 
of a minister depend not upon his activity and zeal alone, nor upon 
spending the whole or most of his time among his people ; nor upon 
deriving subjects and matter for his sermons from a knowledge of 
their condition thus acquired, or from circumstances in this way sug- 
gested, (as has of late been seriously and publicly recommended,) 
and without any time spent in his study to enable him to bring out of 
his treasury things neiv and olcL 

The career of Davenport was commenced in the county of Suffolk. 
At the time of the revival in 1785, there were many living on the spot 
still possessing all the vigor of manhood, who had been brought as 
they hoped to seek and to embrace Christ, during the wild-fire and 
extravagances of his time. And Buell had not yet wholly lost the fire 
of his youth. It is not to be regarded as strange, if at the sudden oc- 
currence of such a scene, they run into some of the excesses of their 
.youthful days, notwithstanding, in the calm and deliberate season of 
maturer years, they had looked back upon them with regret. Al- 
though there were some things in the manner and in the means which 
savored, in a considerable degree, of the excesses of times gone by, 
. yet Dr. Buell was faithful to his trust. He dwelt much at this period, 
■ as he had ever done, (but now with more than his usual directness 
and power) on the character and perfections of God— his sovereignty 
— his eternal purposes— the strictness and purity of his holy law — 



376 APPENDIX. 

the mercy proffered through the atonement of Christ, and through 
him only — on the native depravity of the heart and its entire aliena- 
tion from God, and the total helplessness of the sinner left to himself— 
on the absolute necessity of the special influences of God's almighty 
Spirit to slay his natural enmity, and to change the current of his 
affections — on the danger to be guarded against from the deceitful- 
ness of the heart, and from the subtlety of the adversary — and also on 
the danger of procrastinating, and the reasonableness and duty of 
giving himself immediately and unreservedly to God. The work 
was powerful, and proved in a good degree, genuine. It was a sea- 
son, it is believed, to which numbers will look back from the heights 
of the blessed with astonishment, and with songs of gratitude and 
glory to God, during eternity. Within six or eight months from its 
commencement, more than one hundred were enrolled among the 
professed children of God. 

I witnessed at Yale college, when in the capacity of a tutor, the 
great and precious work there in 1802. This work has proved to 
that venerable institution a new era in its religious history. Indeed 
the same may be said of it in respect to other colleges, for it seems to 
have been to many of them, at least, as a harbinger of life to the 
dead. 

While I was at the head of Middlebury college in Vermont, that 
institution w^as signally favored. It had been so favored, indeed, from 
its beginning. It was founded with special reference to the interests 
of the church. Its principal patrons in general were lovers of the 
tiuth — they were men of prayer, who embraced cordially as the fun- 
damental articles of their creed the doctrines of the reformation and 
of their venerated pilgrim fathers. It was eminently the subject of 
earnest prayer with the children of God throughout the state, and 
with many of them, it is known, elsewhere. And their prayers were 
not in vain. In consequence of the religious character of the institu- 
tion for the first twenty years from its establishment, it was the resort, 
not only of the sons of pious parents in the state, but of the sons of 
many such parents abroad. It is well known that it has ever since 
maintained a similar character, and has been exerting a wide and 
healthful influence. Among the graduates of its first twelve classes 
there were sixty-seven ministers of the gospel — a greater number 
than is found among the first twelve classes of the graduates of any 
other college in our country, (Princeton excepted) : on the catalogue 
of which college, at the same age, is the same number exactly. Du- 
ring my connection with it, a period of eight years, it experienced 



APPENDIX. 377 

irepeatedly powerful and precious revivals ; as did the village of Mid- 
dlebury. No class was graduated during this period who had not 
witnessed one or more seasons of refreshing, and during the collegiate 
course of one class, the institution was favored with three such 
seasons. 

Hamilton college in this state, which I have recently left, and over 
which 1 presided nearly sixteen years, has not been owned of God in 
«o signal a manner. It owes not its origin in so high a degree, it is 
to be feared, to the same motives. It has experienced several adverse 
vicissitudes. But God, notwithstanding, has not left himself without 
witness that he has been gracious unto it. During my connection 
with it, it was favored with four special visitations of mercy. Two of 
them were seasons of great power. The fruits of each of them were 
something more than twenty hopeful converts ; — about one half of 
the impenitent youth who were members of the institution. The first 
of these two seasons, unless I was greatly deceived in my judgment, 
exhibited the most powerful and genuine work of the kind which I 
ever witnessed in any college. The whole progress was accompa- 
nied with a stillness and solemnity like that of the house of death. 
It occurred shortly after a period of unusual turbulence and misrule. 
The transforming influence of the Holy Spirit, in many instances, 
was so strikingly manifest, that they must have carried evidence to 
the mind of the most hardened infidel not to be resisted, that nothing 
short of the almighty power of God could have produced the change. 
Some of the subjects of the work were of families of great respecta- 
bility; and the work was regarded by the pious friends of the college 
as a special and most seasonable interposition of divine favor, and as 
a sure pledge that God would still have it in remembrance, 

Now with regard to the several revivals of religion to which I have 
alluded, in these different institutions of learning, there was so strono- 
a resemblance in their most important characteristics as to leave no 
possible ground to doubt of their being all effects of the operation of 
the same Spirit. The conviction and conversion of those in unbelief, 
were usually preceded by the revival of behevers themselves. They 
were first brought to reflect upon their own backslidings and unfaith- 
fulness, their want of regard to God's honor and requirements, their 
apathy towards those around them who were still out of Christ, and 
without concern for their souls. And their languishing graces were 
revived ; a spirit of earnest prayer was shed down upon them ; they 
looked to God, and asked, lohat ivilt thou have me to do ? But such 
was not the fact in every case. In one instance, Avliile the professecj 

35 



3T8 APPENDIX. 

friends of Zion were apparently at ease, the conviction wrought in 
the mind of a thoughtless youth by a sermon addressed to the young, 
seemed to be the harbinger of an extensive and most interesting work. 
At another time, when there was no unusual life manifested by 
Christians, on entering the chamber of a youth of a family of wealth 
and fashion, and whose religious instruction had been greatly ne- 
glected, I found him to my great surprise sitting in a reflecting pos- 
ture, with a Bible in his hand, and with a countenance which indi- 
cated that all was not peace w^ithin. To the question, " My young 
friend, is there any thing lying with weight upon your mind?" He 
answered, *'I am a sinner — a great sinner," I inquired of him what 
had led to his conviction of this. He replied that he had been brought, 
but he could not tell how, to think on the error of his ways ; — to see 
that he had been constantly sinning against God, notwithstanding his < 
goodness and mercy towards him, all his days ; — that he felt himself 
justly condemned, and was astonished that he had been spared so 
long. The example of an amiable and beloved youth, moral in his 
deportment, and of such w^orldly hopes and prospects, humbled under 
a sense of guilt, and feeling as if all on earth were vanity, could not 
but lead his fellow students to reflect on their own condition. The 
next subject of conviction was a class mate and intimate friend ; and 
a youth of similar character and prospects. A glorious work ensued, i 1 
which, it is fully believed, through the instrumentality of those who 
were its subjects, has already been indirectly the cause of the con- 
version of thousands. Such instances show that God is a sovereign, 
and works in his own way ; and that in accomphshing his infinitely 
wise and holy purposes, he seems sometimes to step aside from the 
ordinary course of his providence, and to human view to effect his 
design without means. 

But the history of the church in all ages shows that it is by means 
of the humility of believers, a deep consciousness of their entire de- 
pendance on God for strength, their watchfulness, their perseverance, 
their faithful prayers, his purposes of grace are usually accomplished, 
and that unless they come up to the help of the Lord, there is little rea- 
son to hope that sinners will be convicted and renewed, and his name 
glorified in their salvation. The commencement of a genuine revival 
of religion,jf I may judge from what I have seen, is usually a trying 
time to Christians. The Spirit of God seems to search them as with 
a candle. Often have I witnessed those who were thought to have 
adorned their profession, trembhng (usually, however, but for a little 
time,) as if on the borders of despair. As to the revivals of which I 



APPENDIX. 379 

hare spoken, I have witnessed no self-confident anticipations of them. 
I have heard no believers saying that they knew by their own feelings, 
from their frames or illuminations, from their freedom and enlarge- 
ment in prayer, from their nearness of access to the throne of grace, 
or from their assurance of being co-workers with God, that there was 
about to be a revival. Nor did I ever hear of their saying at any time 
that if Christians would only do their duty, they might have all their 
families or friends as well as not, converted immediately. 

In regard to those who, in the judgment of charity, were led to a 
cordial acceptance of the gospel offer, during tlie seasons to which 1 
have referred, there was an evident diversity as to their feelings, and 
the strength and pungency of their convictions during the progress of 
the work ; yet in one respect there was a perfect coincidence among 
them — viz., in the strong and irrepressible conviction that they were 
sinners, justly condemned by God's law, and that independently of 
the atonement of Christ there was no hope for them. But while their 
conviction of sin and of their lost condition was deep and overwhelm- 
ing, and as it would seem, too powerful in some cases long to be en- 
dured, in others their distress and anxiety appeared to arise from an 
impression that they had little or no true conviction. And while all 
acknowledged that their condemnation by the perfect and holy law of 
God was just, and their lips must be forever sealed ; yet they could 
not but feel, if, while others were saved they should be left to perish — 
that God somehow or other would be a respecter of persons. I have 
noticed a striking difference among indi\^iduals — the subjects of the 
same revival ; and also in the general character of the revivals when 
compared with each other. The Spirit of God in its operation seems 
sometimes to have been more quick and powerful than at others, in 
conquering the pride and enmity of the heart, and bringing it to sub- 
mit to the terms of the gospel. 

As to the immediately subsequent appearance of those who had 
indulged the hope that they had passed from death unto life, they all 
believed that faith and salvation are the gift of God — of his free and 
sovereign grace ; and that this gift cannot be bestowed but through 
the atonement of Christ. Yet there was a diversity as to the strength 
of their hopes, and their confidence in themselves ; owing undoubt- 
edly in some measure to a dissimilarity of constitutional tempera- 
ment, and a difference in the kind and mode of instruction formerly 
received ; but probably to nothing else so much as to the difference 
in the ardor and in the method and manner of the chief instruments 
in the work. In but few instances, however, was witnessed a high 



S80 AJPPfeNDiX. 

degree of* assurance and self-confidence. Almost all were alarmed 
more or less lest their wicked hearts should deceive them, and they 
should be found to have walked in the light of their own fire and in the 
sparks which they had kindled. They were modest and retiring — C5- 
teeming others better than themselves ; apparently of a meek and hum- 
ble spirit ; seai'ching the scriptures for light and for the trial of their 
faith, and seeking counsel and instruction from age and experience. 
Often have I heard the remark made, "It is a wonder that God should 
have mercy on such a sinner as I am. It seems, if I am saved, that it 
must be a miracle." Never have I heard it said, " How easy a thing 
it is to be a Christian — It is strange that I could not see it before — 
Why it is just as easy to love God as to love the world, or to love our 
parents or our brothers." Never in a single instance have I known 
the young and inexperienced convert to denounce hoary headed and 
experienced Christians — because they could not feel and talk and 
pray as he did — as cold or dead, or as backsliders. They felt that to 
glorify and enjoy God would be their reasonable service and chief de- 
light ; and that although he should cast them off and leave them to be 
miserable forever, it would still be their duty to adore him, and that 
his name would be magnified in their destruction. Comparatively 
but a small number of those who were believed to be converts, fur- 
nished serious grounds for apprehension by their future lives, that 
they had been deceived themselves and had deceived others. A vast 
majority gave satisfactory evidence that God had begun a good work 
in their hearts ; and ground for hope that it would be carried on, till 
finally through his grace abounding in Christ Jesus, it would be made 
perfect in glory. 

In general, those who at first manifested most confidence in them- 
selves, who were the least troubled with doubts and fears, did not 
furnish by the manner of their subsequent lives, the best evidence to 
others for hopes of their good estate. Of this class were much the 
greater proportion of those who entirely abandoned their hopes, and 
(speaking after the manner of men) were farther from God and hea- 
ven than before. "While those who began to hope with trembling, 
who were most distrustful of themselves, most jealous of their deceit- 
ful hearts, and seemed hardly to presume that God would condescend 
to bestow pardoning mercy on such rebels as they had been, were 
found, in general, most steadily to grow in grace, and in the know- 
ledge of God, and to become the most consistent, stable, and devoted 
Christians. 

The means used in the progress of the revivals with which I have 



APPENDIX. 3S1 

formerly been conversant, were such as have long been practised in 
our churches, and have received the approbation of the greatest and 
best men in generations that are past as well as in our own ; and to 
which the Great Head of the church has unequivocally given his 
sanction in their propitious results. Means which are directly pre- 
scribed in the Gospel, or are believed to be in strict conformity with 
its spirit. I mean, preaching the truths of God's word with plainness 
and discrimination ; setting forth the perfections of God, the reason- 
ableness of his requirements, the dependance of man, his relations 
and obligations to God, his ruined condition by nature and the way 
of his recovery — meetings for conference, exhortation, and prayer ; 
and visiting from room to room, and privately conversing with the 
students — both with the anxious and others. The latter is a prac- 
tice which may be adopted with peculiar convenience in a college. 
And any man acquainted with the circumstances of a college, and 
with the character and situation of its inmates, must be persuaded 
that there is hardly any one means besides, from which consequences 
more happy, could rationally be anticipated. 

Other revivals of religion have I witnessed formerly in our churches ; 
but I will not enumerate nor describe them. But all which have fallen 
within my observation till recently, though generally attended with 
much power, were yet characterized by a good degree of order and 
stillness. And their genuineness has been attested by their results. 

You may expect from me some account of the religious excitements 
which have lately fallen within my notice in the region in which I 
reside. I will only say that the measures which have been adopted, 
and to a great extent the results which have been witnessed, have 
formed a melancholy contrast to those which have characterized the 
revivals with which I have been conversant in former days; though 
it gives me pleasure to state my conviction that the extravagances 
which have prevailed among us are gradually subsiding, and that 
our churches generally are becoming more deeply impressed with the 
importance of adhering to the great principles of gospel order. 

That God may give you strength, and prosper all your judicious 
efforts for the protection and advancement of the interests of his 
church, is the sincere wish and prayer of 

Your friend and brother, 

HENRY DAVIS. 

35* 



LETTERXXI. 

From the REVEREND THOMAS DE WITT, D.D. 

Associate Pastor of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Churches in the city of 
New York. 

JVeio York, June 10, 1833. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

No topic is of more vital importance and transcendant interest, 
than tiie promotion of the work of the Spirit in the midst of the church, 
and by her instrumentahty. The proper character of that work, and 
the best means by which it may be increased and extended, deserve 
the most careful investigation, and should be held in prominence be- 
fore the church, so as to excite and regulate her zeal and efforts. 
Just in proportion to the incalculable value of true revivals, is the 
importance of guarding and promoting their purity, fruitfulness, and 
permanence. The church has always more to fear from the enemy 
within the camp, in the subtlety of a corrupting and perverting pro- 
cess, than from the enemy without, in the boldness of direct opposi- 
tion ; — more when he appears in the form of an angel of light, than 
when he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he ma} devour. 
And in no way will he more successfully operate, than by perverting 
in their use those very means, which, when rightly used, prove most 
efficient for promoting the work of the Spirit in genuine revivals, or 
by connecting with them unscriptural, insidious, or injurious means 
and measures. Thns may be poisoned the fountain which should 
prove the «ource of the prosperity and peace of the church. 

No principle can be plainer in its proof, or more important in its ap- 
pVicatioH, tham this, that whatever deviates from and opposes the purity 
of the truth and the order ofthe church, in her divinely appointed insti- 
tutions, must prove (whatever may be the transient excitements, and 
the present appearances of good,) the source of great and extensive 
jevil. No true Christian can ever feel indifference in relation to a revi- 
val, or exercise any cold distrust at the indications of the commence- 
ment or extension of one ; but on the contrary, he will always with 
flowing sympathy, and active co-operation, greet these tokens. But 



APPENDIX. 3g3 

in the ardor of his spirit, and the 2ieal of his efforts, he should be soli-' 
citous that the means employed should always exhibit and guard di- 
vine truth in its simplicity and purity, consist with the order of the 
church, and promise to confer the greatest amount of benefit upon 
the church permanently. The history of the church in every age^ 
shows that the seasons of her spiritual prosperity have not been un- 
accompanied with danger, and exhibits the process by which her order 
has been disturbed, truth has been corrupted, and a train laid for de- 
solatmg evils in time to come. Such was the case in the primitive 
Christian church, when the word greatly prevailed, and great grace 
was upon the people j even then disorder and error sought to gain 
prevalence. Such has been the case in various parts of the protestant 
church, at various times, since the Reformation. A monitory lesson 
is thus furnished which should not be disregarded or unimproved. 
The American churches have been favored at several periods with 
seasons of revival, bearing much precious fruit, and exerting a most 
salutary influence, yet not unattended with dangers and evils. The 
extensive revivals in the northern and middle states about the rniddle 
of the last century, gave rise to some of the most valuable of President 
Edwards' words, in which he delineates the nature and tests of true 
religion, explains the means by which the work of the Spirit of God 
in the revival of religion may be most effectually promoted, and ex- 
poses the evils and dangers incident to it, and the best way of guard- 
ing against and removing them. His treatises on the affections and 
on revivals, possess a permanent interest and value, and cannot be too 
carefully weighed and applied by private Christians and by churches. 
The period of the present century which has elapsed, has been cha- 
racterized by the kindling of a new spirit within the church, which is 
evidenced by the successful and growing operations of the various 
benevolent rehgious institutions of the day, and in the energies which 
are exerted for the promotion of true religion at home and abroad. 
The revivals of religion which of late have become so multiplied and 
extended, have exerted, and are exerting, a most beneficent influence, 
which is found and felt in many forms, and bearing upon the interests 
of religion in all its departments. Who does not rejoice that he is 
permitted to live in this " day of the Son of Man," when the call to 
the church is " Arise, shine, for thy hght is come, and the glory of the 
Lord is risen upon thee ;" when such avenues are opening, such faci- 
lities furnished, and such means multiplied for efficient effort in pro- 
moting the kingdom of Christ? Who does not rejoice at the evi- 
dence of enlightened zeal and devoted effort spreading in our churches 



384 APPENDIX. 

and at the gathering of multitudes of sinners unto Christ ? Who 
does not hope, that by the healthful action of the church, and under 
the abundant outpouring of the Divine Spirit, a series and increase of 
scriptural, pure, and permanent revivals will ensue, which will rapidly 
advance the kingdom of Christ, until " the whole earth shall be filled 
with his glory" ? But who has not at the same time with pain mark- 
ed the evils which have been spreading, of a nature very similar to 
those delineated by President Edwards, and which threaten to impair 
the purity of truth, and the order and harmony of the church, and in 
their consequences to produce a reaction most prejudicial to the 
blessed cause of true revivals ? 

The work on Revivals which you have furnished to the Christian 
public, appears to me to be most opportune, and in its spirit and 
matter, well calculated to produce a happy effect, both in awaking 
Christians and churches from slumber, cold speculation, and orderly 
formality, to cordial and active exertions in promoting the work of 
God, and at the same time in exposing and counteracting the evils 
springing up. Such a work was needed, and it is to be hoped will, 
under the divine blessing, tend to unite the friends of evangelical 
truth in promoting true revivals, and in guarding against evils in 
their first rise and resisting their inroads. I had intended to have 
presented very briefly some views on the measures employed for the 
promotion of revivals. ; but considering that the subject is fully and 
satisfactorily discussed in your work, and ably alluded to in the let- 
ters appended to it^ I have on further reflection deemed it most proper 
to withhold them. 

The portion of the church of Christ with which I am connected, 
(the Reformed Dutch Church in America) has at different times in 
several parts, been favored with gracious seasons of revival. At the 
time of Whitfield's first labors in America, there was already existing 
a powerful, extended, and well marked w^ork of grace, under the mi- 
nistry of the Rev. Mr. Frelinghuysen, in the neighborhood of Somer- 
ville and New Brunswick, JN". J. The blessed fruits of this work 
w^ere widely spread in those parts, endured through the following 
generations, and may yet be clearly traced at the present time. Sub- 
sequently, the ministries of Dr. Laidlie at New York, and Dr. Wes- 
terlo at Albany, tended greatly to elevate the tone of evangehcal 
sentiment and piety in our churches, and were greatly blessed in the 
<:onversion of sinners. The ministry of the late Dr. Livingston is 
w^ell remembered as most richly evangelical, and clothed with a holy 
unction, while the dew of heaven was upon it in success. At one 



I 



APPENDIX. 385 

time for several years subsequent to the revolutionary war, while 
alone in the field of his labor, the continued dropping from on high 
was on his ministrations, and numerous accessions were made from 
time to time of such as afterwards exhibited throughout the character 
of enUghtened, experimental, fruitful piety. Without referring to their 
ministries, it may be remarked that these were the very men, most 
distinguished among us for their clear, discriminating exhibition of 
divine truth, their strict adherence to the order of the gospel, their 
influence upon the general welfare of the church, and their wisdom, 
zeal, and fidelity in the work of the ministry. I doubt not if their 
testimony could now be gained, it would be in accordance with the 
tenor of your volume. 

With prayers to the Head of the church for a blessing on your work 
on Revivals, and on all your labors in the gospel, I am yours in 
Christian bonds. 

THOMAS DE WITT 



L E T T E R X X 1 1 . 

From the REVEREND MARK TUCKER, D. D. 

Pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York. 

Troy, Jf, Y. September 2, 1833. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

In complying with your request, I desire to erect a monument to the 
praise and glory of God. I have been allowed to witness such dis_ 
plays of his power in the conversion of sinners, in the enlargement of 
the church, in the extension of benevolent effort, that I cannot in the 
least doubt that God does in very deed visit his people and dwell with 
men. 

The first scene of interest I witnessed was in the autumn and win- 
ter of .1814. I was then quite young. In that work I learned not to 
despise the day of small things. I saw that by the most inadequate 
means, God can carry forward his purposes of mercy. Persons com- 
paratively young may be useful in subordinate stations under the 
direction of settled pastors, but should never be intrusted with the 
exclusive responsibility of cultivating a field alone. 



386 APPENDIX. 

In 1815, in another place while a student in Theology, I was in the 
midst of a work of greater power. While it was beginning to extend 
through the city where I resided in all directions, it was suddenly 
arrested, by an unexpected occurrence. A popular minister, concern- 
ing whom many strange things had been said, came into the place. 
The popularity of his preaching, the throngs that crowded to hear him, 
diverted the attention and dissipated much of the seriousness. The 
thoughts of sinners were turned from themselves to the man, convic- 
tion and distress gave place to admiration of talent and eloquence. 
True faith and repentance stand not in the wisdom of man, but in the 
power of God. 

In 1820, two years after my settlement in Stillwater, Saratoga 
county, God was pleased to pour out his spirit upon the people of my 
charge. The work commenced simultaneously in Stillwater and 
Malta, which was a waste place, without an organized church or a 
minister, but where resided a few members of my church, and of 
other churches. The Reverend Mr. Nettleton preached in Malta dur- 
ing the winter of 1820 and 21, and gathered more than one hundred 
into the fold of Christ there. Besides preaching in all parts of the 
large town of Stillwater regularly, as the harvest was great and the 
laborers were few, I extended my labors into Pittstown, Schagh- 
ticoke, two congregations, Easton, Saratoga, and Newtown, in all 
of which the work of the Lord prospered. During that winter nearly 
the whole county of Saratoga, and part of the county of Montgomery 
were visited with a refreshing from the presence of the Lord. A full 
account of this glorious work, during which about fifteen hundred 
were added to the churches, was presented to the presbytery drawn 
up for the most part from written reports, by our beloved friend and 
fellow laborer in that field. Dr. M'Auley. The fruit of the work in 
my own particular bounds was long visible. A new church was 
organized in Pittstown, one in Schaghticoke, and another was resus- 
citated and greatly enlarged, an impulse given to the church in Easton, 
besides an increase of one half to the church under my pastoral care. 
Within my circuit full four hundred made a profession of religion. The 
field was so extensive, and my time was so much divided between the 
different places of labor, that I had too little opportunity to give all 
needful instruction to the inquiring. Owing to this, and the charac- 
ter of some part of the population, many who indulged hopes fell 
away. I fell into one error, which I have since regretted, viz., admit- 
ting some to church privileges too soon. In almost all cases where 
strong excitement prevailed, and sympathy was awakened, those 



II 



APPENDIX. 387 

who came forward hastily, proved either unsound or troublesome. 
Although I avoided a ruinous but common error of pronouncing any 
converted, I did not sufficiently guard admissions into the church. 
Preaching, family visitation, and when convenient, meetings of inqui- 
ry were the means used in that great work. Notwithstanding the 
great diversity of character in the different towns in which I labored, 
I witnessed very little tendency to extravagance. This might have 
been owing to the decided manner in which I always spoke against 
any appearance of irregularity. I look back to that period of my hfe, 
with unfeigned gratitude ; and though, for the next two years, my 
labors were vastly increased, and though oppressed with the care of 
those churches, I rejoice in my work, and can bless God for what I 
was permitted to learn of the methods of his grace. If a minister, 
will study his bible, his own heart, and the state of his people, and 
preach, and pray, and visit from house to house, with simplicity and 
perseverance, he may reasonably hope to see great results. While 
the work is all the Lord's, there is an adaptation in the instruments. 

In March, 1824, 1 removed to Northampton, and notwithstanding the 
disturbances which resulted from the rage of the enemies of truth, and 
the deep sensation occasioned by the erection of a Unitarian church, 
the spirit of God accompanied the word preached. Several conver- 
sions occurred during the summer. Among a portion of that ancient 
and venerable church, which had enjoyed the labors of Stoddard and 
Edwards and Hooker, there was an anxiety to witness another out- 
pouring of the Spirit. The Lord had graciously permitted my affec- 
tionate and kind colleague and father, the Rev. Solomon Williams, 
to behold several seasons of special mercy during his protracted mi- 
nistry. The separation of error from truth, of those who rejected 
Christ and the doctrines of grace, from the body of the faithful, pre- 
pared the way for the work of the Lord. In 1825, we witnessed 
some indications of the Spirit's presence, but in the winter and spring 
of 1826, the Lord powerfully revived his work. The first decisive 
evidence was among the youth. The meetings during the whole 
winter had been crowded and solemn. The work advanced with 
steadiness, though without much excitement through the spring and 
summer. Almost all the members of a large female Bible class be- 
came subjects of it. There were scarcely any families where some 
were not brought into the kingdom. The impression was deep and 
universal, that the Lord was in the midst of us. The extent of the 
field, the magnitude of the congregation now excited, and requiring 
unceasing anxiety and labor, rendered this work more exhausting 



S88 Ai^PENDlX. 

than any in which I had previously been engaged. The Lord gra- 
ciously provided some valuable helpers for a season, Vi^ho shared the 
solicitude and labor of the pastor. Besides the numbers added to the 
church, which Were considerable, eiceeding I think, one hundred and 
twenty, one great benefit of this work was to excite art interest in 
the whole county, and especially give currency to revivals among a 
large class who had before stood aloof. 

The character of the preaching was discriminating and instructive. 
No effort was made to excite the passions. What were termed 
" neighborhood meetings,*' meetings for prayer and exhortation in pri- 
vate families, in different parts of the parish, were peculiarly useful. 
Morning prayer meetings at sunrise, seemed to deepen and extend the 
interest. A very large number of boys used to meet with the pastor 
or some experienced member of the church for instruction and prayer; 
time has shown that many of them were savingly benefited, several 
of them are in a course of training for the ministry. Profiting by past 
experience, and strengthened by my worthy colleague, we received 
none hastily. Very few have since apostatized. That revival, it is 
safe to say, greatly strengthened the church, and doubtless prepared 
the way for subsequent seasons of mercy. In the midst of it I was 
laid aside by the failure of one of my limbs. After a confinement of 
five months in Boston, by the advice of a council of physicians, I re- 
luctantly, and with feelings no tongue can describe, left that scene of 
labor, around which clustered so many associations of tender interest, 
and removed to a small compact congregation in this city. I reached 
Troy the 22d of August, 1827. There was no church organized in 
this congregation at that time. In October I was installed, and a 
church was formed. During every winter since my corning to this 
city, I have been permitted to see some movement among the dry 
bones in this valley. We have had no communion without additions 
from the world. But in the winter of 1830, the Lord displayed his 
power and grace in one of the greatest works I have ever witnessed. 
One of the first subjects was a highly respectable merchant, whose 
brief but splendid course has done much to build up the church. He 
died in firm hope of eternal hfe, in April, 1832. I was assisted in my 
labors in this work, by Rev. Henry R. Weed, a highly esteemed 
brother, whose praise is in all the churches. A great number of mew, 
and men of high character and wealth, and heads of families, were 
brought into the church. Besides faithful direct preaching, family 
visitation, meetings for inquiry, we found great benefit from early 
morning meetings for prayer. In all these seasons of special out-powr^* 



II 



APPENDIX. 389 

ingof the spirit in the several places I have named, I have experienced 
no bitter opposition. I have witnessed no alienation among brethren. 
An accession of strength to the congregation, as well as of numbers to 
the church, has been the result. 

After an experience of nearly twenty years, during which time I 
have scarcely passed a year without sharing in the toil and deep anx- 
ieties of a revival somewhere, I need hardly say that I am a firm be- 
liever in the existence of revivals of religion. On the best means of 
promoting them, I have already given to the public my sentiments 
in my sermon in the National Preacher. I exceedingly regret to find 
that many, who claim, I fear somewhat arrogantly, the exclusive 
character of revival preachers, are disposed to suspect, and even to 
revile those who would correct the evils that very naturally arise from 
strong excitements. If I should hear a minister say that a revival of 
religion was not a period of great solicitude and danger, as well as of 
interest and benefit to the church, I should be at a loss how to judge 
of him ; I refer not to his religious character, but to his soundness of 
judgment and experience. 

It is said there is a new era in revivals of religion. It is certain 
many innovations have been adopted. If it shall appear that the re- 
sult of them is greater purity of heart and exemplariness of life, great- 
er liberality in giving to the Lord, greater promptitude and perseve- 
rance in acting, greater love and zeal in the church, I shall rejoice. I 
would not reject a measure because it is neio, nor would I because it 
is old. There are true and proper tests. " By their fruits ye shall 
know them." I have carefully watched the progress of events, and as 
deeply as I was able, have studied the signs of the times. I have not 
stood so far aloof from any as to be ignorant of the means that have 
been employed by zealous ministers, to build up the church of God. 
I have as yet seen no occasion to change my views of truth, or to 
alter my method of exhibiting it. " Prayer, and the ministry of the 
word," are the stereotyped means of promoting a revival of religion. 
Since my return to this state, in 1827, I have perceived a spirit in some 
ministers and churches, different from any thing I had ever noticed 
before. How long it is to continue, I know not. I have observed 
the tendency and effects of the new methods adopted in many places 
to promote revivals of religion ; I should fear to adopt them, not be- 
cause they are new, but because they cannot fail ^to produce bad ef- 
fects. The good resulting from them in my view, is more than 
counterbalanced by the evil that follows. It is wrong to encouraoje 
females to pray, even in small promiscuous assemblies. It must be 

36 



390 APPENDIX. 

hazardous to pronounce men converted upon a mere assertion that 
they submit to God. There is something revolting to my feeUngs, and 
contrary to all my personal experience, in the manner of stating the 
abihty of sinners to repent. The way of calling out men to a pro- 
minent seat in the house of public worship, to be made subjects of 
prayer, I think very exceptionable, and calculated to lead to decep- 
tion , for I see not how an individual can determine any thing under 
such circumstances in relation to his own feelings. And yet, the 
whole question for eternity is to be settled by a single act, an arbitra- 
ry act, very recently adopted! Fearful denunciations and strong 
asseverations on slight grounds, are, to say the least of them, very 
improper. A man who deals in superlatives, very soon loses his 
power to affect us. S6 the minister who uses extravagant language 
and extravagant means, will cease to be regarded with interest. A 
minister's right arm is withered when he loses his character for discre- 
tion, or when the people have not confidence in his integrity and wis- 
dom. The cause of revivals may be arrested for a season, but it is the 
cause of truth and of God, and it will succeed. These precious 
seasons will continue to return, and in proportion as they are pure, 
produced by the instrumentality of the truth as it is in Jesus, and con- 
ducted by humble, holy, judicious men ; they will prepare the world 
for the reign of the Messiah. 

With every sentiment of respect, I am yours. 

In the bonds of the gospel, 

MARK TUCKER. 
Rev. Dr. Sprague. 



# 



LETTER XXIII. 

Feom the reverend CHARLES COFFIN, D. D. 

Late President of Greenville college, Tennessee. 

Greene county, Tennessee, July 22, 1833. 

Reverend and Dear Brother, 

For your seasonable and judicious Lectures on Revivals of Religion, 
and the invaluable Letters which accompany and corroborate them, 
you have my most hearty thanks. The early demand of a second 
edition attests the estimate which the Christian public has put upon 
the work. Of its usefulness in correcting some mistakes in Europe, 
as well as in America, respecting the prevalent character of religious 
revivals in the United States, satisfactory evidence has already reached 
us. This cannot fail to increase, as the book comes to be more gene- 
rally known and read on both sides of the Atlantic. 

Your request, that I would.send you, in season for the new edition, 
an additional letter, is one which the commanding interest of the sub- 
ject and occasion would imperiously forbid me to decline ; were it in 
my power to increase in the smallest degree, the utility of the volume. 
But I am not unaware that the fulness of the discussion, both in the 
Lectures and the Letters, has omitted very little, if any thing, of es- 
sential importance to such a publication. 

To join, however, a single harmonious voice to so grateful and 
united a song of most timely praise for the very copious and multi- 
plied effusions of the Divine Spirit, which have caused our own period 
of the world to be distinguished as the age of religious revivals, is, 
indeed, a delightful employment. It may, likewise, be not less profita- 
ble, though certainly less gratifying in itself considered, to unite in the 
notes of caution and warning which are sure to be needed by erring 
mortals, when exposed in the midst of unusual excitement to manifold 
temptations, delusions, and mis-steps. 

Ever since man's original apostacy, and God's merciful interposi- 
tion for his salvation, the powers of darkness and the powers of hght 
have been in strong and unceasing contention upon the earth. That 



392 APPENDIX, 

the battle on either side will be less active and persevering while the 
predicted glory of gospel victory is still future, no person acquainted 
with the word of God and the nature of man, or with the experience 
of the church and the course of the world, can reasonably believe. 
For, even fable itself, in its most interesting forms, does but borrow 
from fact, and fiction from truth ; inasmuch as the incidents are conti" 
nually multiplied, the plot deepened and the action heightened, as the 
catastrophe approaches. Blessed be the God of mercy, we know it is 
" a abort work" which he will accomplish " upon the earth" in the uni- 
versal promulgation of his gospel, and the gracious conquest of our 
revolted world. Let the friends of revivals, in the midst of all opposi- 
tion and difficulty, "comfort one another with these words." 

If there is truth in the inspired declaration, "When the Lord shall 
build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory," no occurrence in human 
affairs can more deeply interest every sincere friend to God and man, 
than a revival of religion. This results from its very nature. A re- 
vival of religion is simply an increase of the best desires, affections 
and exertions of persons who are already pious and benevolent; such 
an increase as by the blessing of heaven awakens in the ungodly an 
anxiety for their salvation ; and by fervent and united prayer prevails 
with God to send down that effectual influence of his Spirit by which 
sinners are converted, and the society of revived Christians is enlarged. 
When these evidences of increased engagedness in the cause of 
Christ are unequivocally manifested any where, it is too late for an 
impartial observer to doubt that a genuine revival of religion has there 
commenced. But its actual commencement was in Christians them- 
selves, conformably to the ancient prophesy ; "Thussaith the Lord 
God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it 
for them, I will increase them with men like a flock — and they shall 
know that I am the Lord." Religion has first to gain a place in the 
hearts of the irreligious, before it can be capable of an increase or 
revival there. Wherever, by divine grace quickening the pious, 
a revival of rehgion is begun, all upright and benevolent spectators 
will desire and pray, that God may cause it to go on in its purity and 
power. And thus it will go on, and spread and prevail till the world 
is gathered into the church ; unless ministers of the gospel or profes- 
sors of rehgion by some unholy influence, or unadvised movement, 
or kiUing sloth, arrest its progress. The God of love and mercy waits 
to be gracious. He will always fulfil his promises when men take 
hira at his word. Every authorized petition, devoutly offered in the 
j^ame of our Lord Jesus Christ, his divine and well-beloved Son, he 



APPENDIX. 393 

infallibly hears and answers. Every honest exertion for the advance- 
ment of truth and righteousness he blesses. Partial, rash, self- 
righteous and unholy petitions he must disregard. But the importu- 
nate, submissive, scriptural prayer of faith, is ever effectual and preva- 
lent with the Hearer of prayer. A religious revival, therefore, when 
once truly begun, can never cease to advance, while believers cordially 
and fervently unite in the humble supplication to the God of all grace, 
" Do good in th}'- good pleasure unto Zion." The true spirit of prayer 
is and must be the vital spring of every successful attempt, whether by 
ministers or others, to convince and convert their impenitent fellow- 
men. God will unfaihngly direct and prosper the efforts of all his 
children in their appropriate spheres of religious activity, while they 
sincerely seek his glory in the salvation of men : and feel their abso- 
lute dependence upon his Holy Spirit, that they may be rightly di- 
rected in every attempt for its promotion. He will incline the hearts of 
all who thus feel "to pray ;" " he will cause his ear to hear ;" and he 
will send down the promised " blessing which maketh rich and add- 
eth no sorrow therewith." Hence, nothing can stop the progress of 
a pure revival of religion, but the obstructing sins of the human in- 
struments themselves. How mournful that its friends should act the 
part of its enemies, and help the ungodly to prevail against it, as they 
never could without them ; when the prevalence of the revival would 
be the salvation of its opposers, and theirs against it is likely to prove 
their eternal destruction. 

Yet the professed friends of every rehgious revival certainly will 
thus oppose its progress, if not prevented by God himself. The most 
faithful ministers of the gospel, and the most advanced Christians on 
earth, even in their best times and frames, have their native sinfulness 
but imperfectly subdued. They are surrounded, at the same time, 
by an unfriendly and ensnaring world. They are, also, exposed to a 
subtle and powerful adversary. They are, therefore, exceedingly ha- 
ble to go astray ; some in one way and some in another ; and they 
may stand in the way of a revival, after they have felt its power, and 
contributed to its advancement. They may lean to their own under- 
standings. They may trust in their own hearts. They may be over- 
come by the temptations of the world. Satan may get an advantage 
over them by his devices. There is nothing else, which in times of 
revivals he labors for so much, as this very thing ; well knowing that, 
if he can corrupt and mislead the instruments, he can mar and stop 
the work ; as in the kingdom of grace, not less than of nature, God 
works by means. It is a humiliating fact in the history of the church, 

36* 



394 .APPENDIX. 

that her grand adversary has hitherto been so successful in his d^* 
vices, that every past revival has been arrested in its course. Not a 
single promise of God, however, has at any time failed. But incon- 
stant, inconsistent men have come short of their duty, as workers to- 
gether with him. Their sins have separated between him and them. 
Their iniquities have prevented the descent of his blessing, and griev- 
ed away his Holy Spirit from co-operating with them or operating by 
them in extending the work of grace. It is because he is God and 
not man, that he still pursues the object of his redeeming love. It is 
in his benignant sovereignty and overwhelming mercy, that he causes 
fresh revivals to break forth, after shorter intervals, in unexpected 
places, to a wider extent and with more powerful effects, now that the 
era of permanent revival, universal holiness and triumphant grace, 
most incontestably draws nigh. He, also, enables the truly wise to 
gain some spiritual knowledge from all past experience. Hence, if 
novelties occur in religious appearances, they are scrutinized by the 
impartial and discerning, with a just application of the infallible test ; 
" By their fruits ye shall know them." The age of theological dis- 
cussion and ecclesiastical reformation has been happily succeeded by 
an age of religious action, enterprise and achievement. If in some 
individuals there is a tumultuous and unprofitable excitement ; in 
others the highest ardor and activity arc so directed by "the wisdom 
that is from above," and so tempered by the humility of Christian dis- 
cipleship, that an indescribable amount of good is accomplished ; and 
the pure church is so extended and increased, that it bears a larger 
proportion to the world in its number and influence, than at any for- 
mer period ; and the means of its farther and more rapid advance- 
ment are still increasing. How important that the increase should 
be forwarded in every proper way, till the world's necessities shall be 
fully supplied. 

In reference to means suitable to be adopted in promoting revivals 
of religion, there are many reasons and facts to confirm the belief 
that God condescends to bless a greater multiplicity of methods and 
measures, than he has thought necessary to particularize in his word ; 
leaving room here, as in every other department of religious activity, 
for the conscientious exercise of human discretion. It is not to be 
doubted, after candid and extensive investigation, that among minis- . 
ters and professors truly humble and devoted, there has existed, and 
still exists, a considerable variety of modes of operation, honestly 
adopted, and of beneficial influence; just as there exist, also, among 
the different forms of stated worship, of ecclesiastical order and go- 



APPENDIX. 395 

Vestment, and, it may be added of intellectual philosophy and popular 
address. In all these particulars it seems principally important, that 
two extremes be carefully avoided ; namely, a disregard of the plain 
institutions and instructions of divine revelation, on the one hand ; 
and a Hmitation of the Holy One of Israel, as to his blessing upon 
measures of occasional discretion, on the other. New methods, no 
where forbidden in the Bible, may, doubtless, be tried with humility, 
from an honest desire, that no suitable means of good may be omit- 
ted ; while an absolute dependence on the blessing of heaven may be 
deeply realized ; and this may be devoutly and effectually implored. 
In all such cases, however, the common means, acknowledged to be 
of divine appointment, will be mainly prized and principally used. 
Private, social and pubhc prayer, with fasting on special occasions, 
the reading of the Scriptures, and of books and tracts most accordant 
with them, the preaching of the gospel in a plain, discriminating, pun- 
gent, and affectionate manner, the seasonable and solemn administra- 
tion of baptism, and the Lord's supper, pastoral visiting, appropriate 
directions privately given to the anxious,, parental faithfulness, with 
efforts to seal the influence of a Sabbath's instructions, or of occasional 
privileges, religious conversation, catechetical and Sabbath school 
instruction ; these are means of grace which never grow old or out 
of date with Bible Christians. These, under God, are their chief de- 
pendence in the very times of revival. Still the hope may consistently 
be entertained, that God has blessed, and will again bless the sympa- 
thies of our nature, not less to rehgious than to social purposes ; that he 
has succeeded, and will yet succeed, not only the more frequent meet- 
ings for preaching, exhortation and prayer, which are every where 
found necessary to the progress of a revival, but particular meetings 
for religious inquiry ; that the pastor and church may better know 
the spiritual condition of the congregation ; that they may ascertain 
more fully who the anxious are ; what are their individual states of 
mind ; and in what manner it is their duty to treat them, as objects of 
address, and subjects of prayer. For sinners, who feel their guilt and 
danger, such meetings may do much good ; by breaking within them 
the charm of worldly attachments and dependencies; by enhsting the 
tenderest concern of their minister and all Christians present in united 
supplications for them, at the time, and in express agreement to wres- 
tle with God for them in their retired devotions. Such meetings, 
also, may impress the careless, who neglect them, with the increasing 
folly and danger of their own obstinate stupidity, when thought, feel- 
ing and reformation, are spreading around them. In like manner, we 



396 APPENDIXc 

have reason to believe, the solemn and impressive admission into the 
church, on a sacramental Sabbath, of privately examined and well 
approved candidates for its communion, in the use of some appropri- 
ate form of confession, profession and covenant, before the whole 
collected congregation, followed, if judged best, with an address to 
the latter answerable to the solemnity of the occasion, has often 
proved of saving benefit to ungodly relatives, friends, and acquaint- 
ances ; comforted and quickened the church ; and greatly extended 
the reign of divine grace. But, on the other hand, may it not well be 
accounted unwise and unsafe, to constrain any by private authority 
or arbitrary influence, to present themselves at the inquiry meeting 
when they feel no inducement in their own minds ; or to invite any 
persons, while there present, if they have begun to hope that they are 
Christians, to manifest it on the spot, in a public manner ; or, after 
some have expressed their hope, to receive them at once into the 
church, however recently convicted? Should not sufficient time, 
to say the least, be allowed, to discover to them and to the church, 
whether the change so recently experienced is of a kind to outlive 
the occasional excitement of mere animal feeling and unhallowed 
sympathy ? Should the advantages of all due private faithfulness 
and examination, antecedently to public profession, be thus pushed 
aside ? Is there now, as in the primitive age of Christianity, the mi- 
raculous gift of discerning the spirits ? Is a profession of religion 
now as self-denying and hazardous, in a temporal view, as it was 
then ? Is there no greater danger now, than there was then, that un- 
worthy members may press into the church ? Is not the most judi- 
cious caution against hasty admissions a very appropriate and salu- 
tary means of grace, calculated to extend rather than check a genuine 
revival of religion ? Is it not indispensable to the preservation of the 
proper distinction between the church and the world ? Is it not dan- 
gerous, even in addresses made to the anxious, to confound mere 
anxiety ^vith holy desire ? Should the simple expressions of anxiety 
be commended as acceptable duty ? Should the sinner still in his 
rebellion against God, ever be addressed, as though he were honestly 
co-operating with the Spirit of grace, to subdue his own heart ? 
Should not our obligations to be holy, and our dependence for the 
grace to make us holy, be both clearly kept in view ; that the sinner 
may be stripped of all excuse for sin and self-dependence, and induced 
to trust altogether in the Redeemer for righteousness and strength ? 
Is it not imprudent, to declare without a doubt, that a specified num- 
ber of souls have been converted since the meeting began, or that in 



APPENDIX. 397 

certain particular cases of conversion, there were manifest answers 
of concerted prayer ? Is this the style of Christian caution, humi- 
lity and confidence ? Does the genuine prayer of faith thus lead 
to boasting ? Many other improprieties might easily be specified — 
Some against the express word of God, and some against the 
whole spirit of the gospel, and of the rehgion which becomes a sinful 
creature. 

Nevertheless, the captious enemies of religious revivals are obvi- 
ously inexcusable for not considering with genuine candor, that im- 
prudent things may be said or done by imprudent persons, at a 
meeting where the effectual operations of the Spirit of grace have 
been largely experienced, and have left a saving and blessed influence 
upon many individuals. If^ indeed, they have observed some manifest 
errors and improprieties, in the midst of many better things from which 
they ought to have received eternal benefit, they should check every 
malignant tendency either to magnify or to proclaim them ; prone, as 
they are, to do both ; and, at the same time, to overlook or disregard 
the more hopeful appearances, or even to misjudge them altogether. 
The scales of prejudice may be strongly held by the enmity of the 
worldling, the philosophy of the septic, the inexperience of the form- 
alist, or the pride of the self-righteous; but no impartial person will 
expect the gold and alloy of any religious revival to be thus ascer- 
tained. An infidel finds more to object against the characters of 
David and Peter from their faithfully recorded sins, than he discerns 
in favor of them when presented with all the appropriate manifesta- 
tions of their deep repentance, and the general course of their pious 
living. A similar treatment is given to revivals of religion by men of 
daring impiety. But, if they even effect no injury upon others, they 
by such conduct blind their own minds and harden their own hearts ; 
and strengthen the probability, that no revival of religion will ever 
embrace them in the cijcle of its blessing. A humble spirit of just 
discrimination is always desirable and profitable ; and should ever 
direct the studies and communications of gospel ministers. But those 
persons, who have so little taste for the pure enjoyments of genuine 
rehgion, that they are habitually inclined rather to entertain them- 
selves and others with the errors, excesses and failures, by which im- 
perfect men obscure, though they cannot hide, the glory of divine 
grace in genuine religious revivals, should seriously inquire within 
themselves, whether they have ever felt the power of true religion, 
either in a revival or out of it , and what is the prevailing cause, if, 
with all thejr discernment and all their superior light, they know not 



398 APPENDIX. 

God and Jesus Christ, his adorable Son ; whom to know by a living 
and operative faith, is hfe eternal. Better, it will appear on a dying 
bed, in the day of judgment and the ages of eternity, to have been on 
earth the most ignorant and enthusiastic of all the sincere friends of 
evangelical religion, than the most informed, philosophical, and unim- 
pressible of all that shall have rejected the counsel of God against 
themselves. 

It never should be forgotten in revivals, that the selfishness of the 
human heart is their greatest bane ; and that it is most carefully to be 
watched by all, in themselves as well as others, at every turn. Not 
only does it blind and fortify sinners against the humbling and self- 
denying truths of the gospel ; but in a thousand ways it mars the 
usefulness, interrupts the harmony, and counteracts the better desires 
of Christians themselves, both ministers and others. Every body, 
who knows any thing of truth and duty, knows that no man ever 
sinned from pure, disinterested love to God or his nei^'hbor, or from 
that justifiable and righteous love to himself which flows from the 
love of God, and is ever subordinate to it; and which, as existing in 
a righteous character, is pointed out by the divine law, as the proper 
standard and measure of the love due to our neighbor ; with no imphed 
limitation but what difference of circumstances creates. But in every 
unrenewed heart there reigns a blind and exclusive selfishness, a con- 
tinual spring of enmity against God, causing the individual to live to 
himself and not to God ; to prefer his own pleasure to the pleasure of 
God, his own will to the will of God, his own service to the service of 
God, his own honor to the honor of God ; and thus making every 
sinner in his character and course, a self-seeker and a self-destroyer. 
This temper of heart is broken, but not destroyed, in the children of 
God by regeneration ; when temptations prevail, it has a fresh ascen- 
dancy ; and in them, as truly as in sinners, it does all the harm which 
interrupts and mars revivals. Without its operation in men, Satan 
could do nothing. It is the fruitful source of all false dependences, un- 
founded hopes, unwarrantable judgments, censorious denunciations, 
unwise measures and vain glorious exultations. It divides the minis- 
ters and people of God, whom holy love and humility should unite. 
It sometimes makes even truth itself wear the habilament of an un- 
lovely partizan. At other times, it keeps back the searching discri- 
minations of inspiration, and leaves the awakened sinner to deceive 
himself, by having a defective standard of self-examination continu- 
ally before his mind. It induces men partially and fondly to overlook 
the unsanctified power of sympathy, crowded example and mere tem« 



APPENDIX. ggg 

porary excitement, in their estimate of religious appearances, so that 
they pronounce fearlessly on sudden changes as sure conversions^ 
when they scarcely afford ground for a trembling hope, and perhaps, 
are soon to disappear as entire delusions. It often m^ves th€ enthu- 
siastic admirers of music to give it a disproportionate and ill-timed 
abundance in the public exercises of a well appointed sacramental 
or protracted meeting ; and, it is greatly to be feared, occasions the 
love of music to be mistaken for the love of God, by not a small pro- 
portion of the assembly. In a manner not very dissimilar, it occa- 
sions what is improperly called a religious dissipation of mind ; 
inclining excited individuals to be very indefatigable in their attend- 
ance on the pubHc means of grace, to the neglect of private reading 
and meditation, self-examination and prayer, of parental and family 
duties, and of a public spirited co-operation with more consistent 
Christians in the charitable enterprises of the day. A spirit of humi- 
lity and self-denial, so fundamental to all true religion, is no where 
more important than in the scenes and duties of a religious revival. 

In this spirit the American church should realize her obligations to 
God and to the world, and go forward in her duty, till one pure and 
general revival shall spread its blessings over the inhabited globe. 
Never was there any other country settled, since Canaan itself, so 
much for the sacred purposes of religion, as our own. Never did 
any other ancestry, since the days of inspiration, send up so many 
prayers and lay such ample foundations for the religious prosperity 
of their descendants, as did our godly forefathers. It is a fact, there- 
fore, in perfect analogy with the course of Providence, that there 
never has been any other country so distinguished for religious revi- 
vals as our own. The truth is, the church, persecuted in the old 
world, found enlargement in the new. The woman, driven into the 
wilderness, has leaned upon the arm of her beloved ; and she has 
realized his friendship, protection, and strength. Her children have 
risen up and called her blessed. She has only to humble herself for 
her ingratitude and backslidings, to return from her inexcusable aber- 
rations, and pursue the pure purposes of her pilgrimage, and all the 
world will soon be made to know that her God is the Lord. Already 
the spirit of revival, confessedly excited by her example, is kindling 
into activity in Great Britain, and into life in France. It appears in 
different and distant portions of the eastern continent, and is glori- 
ously prevalent in the isles of the Pacific. It breathes and lives upon 
the coast of India, in the island of Ceylon, in the land of Burmah, 
and in the inviting country of liberated Africans. It is at the ends of 



400 APPENDIX. 

the earth, looking eagerly back to America for men and means to 
speed its ascendancy, by the blessing of God, over the population of 
the world. Our Bible, missionary, education. Sabbath-school, tem- 
perance and colonization societies, the supply of our own people with 
a sufficient number of able and faithful ministers of the New Testa- 
ment, and with pious and benevolent characters for the thousand other 
spheres of responsible action, the diffusion of the hght of life, and the 
joys of the gospel salvation, through all our numerous habitations ; 
the preservation of our invaluable, liberties and free institutions, and 
all the happy prospects of our most favored country, depend greatly, 
under God, upon those pure and frequent and spreading revivals of 
religion, for which all American Christians, of whatever name, should 
pray and labor and strive and live, with one heart and one soul ; and, so 
far as they possess the mind and spirit of their Master, most certainly 
will. 

That you, my dear sir, may see a blessing upon your own efforts, 
and those of your brethren in the cause of religious revivals, answer- 
able to your best hopes and largest expectations, is the fervent prayer 
of your affectionate brother, 

CHARLES COFFIN. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



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